©  Brown    Brothers. 

A  STEEL  WORKER  by  L.   M.  JEROME. 
On  the  lawn  of  Charles  M.  Schwab's  residence,  Riverside  Drive,  New  Yoik. 


THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A 
WORKING  WORLD 


BY 

HARRY  FREDERICK  WARD 


NEW  YORK 

MISSIONARY  EDUCATION  MOVEMENT 

OP  THE  UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA 

1918 


COPYRIGHT,    1918,    BY 
MISSIONARY    EDUCATION     MOVEMENT 
OP  THE  UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA 


CORRESPONDENCE  CONCERNING 
MISSION    STUDY 

Send  the  proper  one  of  the  following  blanks  to  the  secretary  of 
yottr  denominational  mission  board  whose  address  is  in  the  "List  of 
Mission  Boards  and  Correspondents"  at  the  end  of  this  book. 

We  expect  to  form  a  mission  study  class,  and  desire  to  have  any 
suggestions  that  you  can  send  that  will  help  in  organizing  and 
conducting  it. 

Name  .. 


Street  and  Number 

City  or  Town  State .. 

Denomination Church. 

Text-book  to  be  used  . 


We  have  organized  a  mission  study  class  and  secured  oitr  books. 
Below  is  the  enrolment. 

Name  of  City  or  Town State 

Text-book Underline  auspices  under 

which  class  is  held : 
Denomination Church  y   p   ^ 

Church Men  Senior 

Women's  Soc.     Intermediate 
Name  of  Leader Y.  W.  Soc.         Junior 

Address Sunday  School 

Name  of  Pastor Date  <*  starting 

State  whether  Mission  Study  Class,      Frequency  of  Meetings 

Lecture  Course,  Program  Meet- 
ings, or  Reading  Circle Number  of  Members 


Does  Leader  desire  Helps?. . . 

Chairman,  Missionary  Committee,  Young  People's  Society 


Address 

Chairman,  Missionary  Committee,  Sunday  School 


Address, 


388255 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

INTRODUCTION   ix 

FOREWORD  xiii 

I.    THE  RIGHT  TO  LIVE 3 

II.    THE  DAY'S  WORK 35 

III.  THE  PAY  ENVELOP    67 

IV.  WAR  OR  PEACE    99 

V.     Nor  BY  BREAD  ALONE 131 

VI.     MASTER  AND  MAN  165 

VII.    MEN  AND  THINGS 195 

VIII.     NEW  FRONTIERS 227 

BIBLIOGRAPHY  250 

INDEX  . 254 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

A  Steel  Worker Frontispiece 

An  Isolated  Miner 8 

Occupational  Diseases 16 

Air  Lock  in  Caisson  Construction 24 

Safety  Device  on  Grinding  Wheel 32 

Women  in  the  Mill 40 

The  Latest  Form  of  Child  Labor 56 

Children  in  the  Cotton  Field 72 

Labor  Temple 88 

Types  of  Labor  Leaders 104 

Ammunition  Used  in  Strike 120 

Leader  Instructing  Youthful  Picketers 144 

Evicted  Strikers 152 

Houses  for  Workingmen 168 

Relationship  of  Things  to  Man 200 

"For  He  Had  Great  Possessions". .                        .  216 


INTRODUCTION 

The  new  home  missions  has  consciously  and  aggres- 
sively accepted  a  continuously  expanding  program.  It 
defines  itself  as  "a  group  .of  activities  attempting  to  Chris- 
tianize the  United  States."  It  insists  that  the  church 
should  recognize  and  support  it  as  "one  of  the  chief  de- 
vices of  social  progress  and  control."  It  has  developed 
the  social  vision  by  the  very  ardor  and  sincerity  of  its 
efforts  to  Christianize  the  individual.  These  efforts  in 
mission  churches  and  settlements  led  it  into  a  ministry 
to  all  the  aspects  of  the  life  of  needy  folk  and  then  into 
manifold  functions  which  seek  to  Christianize  all  the  con- 
ditions that  surround  their  lives.  The  whole  complex 
field  of  human  life  is  now  regarded  as  within  the  scope 
of  the  missionary  activity  of  the  gospel.  Every  associa- 
tion of  mankind — -the  family,  the  state,  industry — all  the 
different  group  activities  and  relations  of  life,  the  play 
and  the  work  of  the  community,  as  well  as  its  worship — 
these  are  now  considered  fields  of  Christian  activity.  The 
purpose  of  missions  is-  not  simply  to  put  the  flag  of  Jesus 
on  the  last  frontier,  not  simply  to  carry  the  gospel  to  the 
rim  of  the  earth,  but  to  put  it  at  the  center  of  human 
life.  It  seeks  to  make  the  gospel  the  inspiring  force  and 
power  of  the  whole  social  organism.  It  demands  that  it 
actuate  the  entire  life  of  the  individual  and  the  entire 
life  of  society;  that  it  inspire  every  function  and  activity 
of  humanity.  Its  goal  is  a  redeemed  humanity  living 
together  in  the  "commonwealth  of  God." 

Home  missions  has  found  its  task  by  following  the  un- 

ix 


x  INTRODUCTION 

churched,  unevangelized  groups,  such  as  the  settlers  on 
the  frontiers,  or  the  Indians  on  the  reservations.  In 
answer  to  the  same  call  of  human  need,  it  has  found  new 
frontiers  running  across  city  streets  and  alleys,  across 
country  villages  and  towns,  as  it  has  sought  to  minister 
to  the  immigrants  and  to  the  people  of  the  rural  sec- 
tions. These  new  frontiers  prove  now  to  be  the  borders 
of  great  stretches  of  unoccupied  territory.  Seeking  to 
reach  with  the  gospel  the  people  who  live  on  these  new 
frontiers,  the  church  finds  itself  compelled  to  carry  the 
gospel  into  all  the  territory  that  their  life  occupies.  The 
gospel  must  reach  them  not  merely  in  the  church,  but 
in  the  tenement,  the  store,  the  factory.  It  is  not  content 
to  open  up  settlements  or  missions  for  immigrants  in 
congested  districts  and  gather  in  their  children  for  social 
ministry  and  religious  instruction  without  at  the  same 
time  applying  the  gospel  to  the  conditions  of  housing  that 
destroy  the  lives  of  those  children  and  to  the  conditions 
of  child  labor  that  weaken  and  prevent  their  development 
In  this  practical  fashion,  following  the  gradual  call  of 
increasing  needs,  the  whole  social  ministry  of  the  modern 
church  program  has  developed.  The  attempt  to  carry 
the  gospel  to  any  group  now  beyond  the  borders  of  the 
churches  involves  also  the  carrying  of  the  gospel  to  the 
conditions  under  which  they  live  and  work.  The  discov- 
ery of  this  fact  through  the  natural  development  of  mis- 
sionary policy  at  home  and  abroad  has  led  its  leaders  to 
ask  the  churches  to  devote  a  year  to  the  study  of  indus- 
trial problems  and  to  call  for  this  and  other  books. 

This  study  deals  particularly  with  those  conditions  and 
relations  in  the  world  of  work  which  are  out  of  harmony 
with  the  teaching  of  the  gospel.  It  therefore  does  not  at- 


INTRODUCTION  xi 

tempt  a  judicial  survey  of  the  industrial  world  as  a  whole. 
It  uses  the  "case  method,"  and  because  this  method, 
whether  in  the  law  school  or  the  medical  clinic,  selects 
extreme  cases  in  order  to  reveal  general  tendencies  and  so 
find  general  remedies,  the  massing  of  such  cases  natur- 
ally tends  to  create  an  impression  of  overemphasis  upon 
abnormal  conditions.  In  the  present  study,  however,  the 
incidents  given  have  either  come  under  the  personal  ob- 
servation of  the  writer  or  have  been  taken  from  current 
records.  That  so  many  of  them  could  thus  have  been 
gathered  indicates  that  there  are  much  more  serious  and 
widely  extended  needs  in  the  world  of  work  than  is 
commonly  supposed  by  the  people  who  do  not  touch  in- 
dustrial conditions  or  read  the  Survey,  or  government 
reports,  or  labor  and  radical  papers.  Because  it  is  not 
desirable  to  burden  a  text  of  this  sort  with  foot-notes, 
authorities  have  not  been  cited.  They  will  be  found  in 
the  appended  reading  list. 

A  study  such  as  this  is  inevitably  open  to  the  charge 
of  undue  sympathy  with  the  wage-earner.  That  is  a 
question  of  the  facts.  If  the  facts  show  that  the  pro- 
ducers are  not  getting  equal  opportunity  with  the  posses- 
sors for  the  development  of  personality,  then  the  church, 
like  the  prophets  and  Jesus,  must  be  on  their  side  to  the 
extent  of  securing  justice  for  them  and  must  call  upon 
all  possessors  who  would  continue  to  call  themselves 
Christians  also  to  take  the  side  of  the  weak  and  the  suf- 
fering until  justice  is  achieved.  It  is  not  a  question  of 
siding  with  any  organization  but  of  siding  with  eternal 
justice  and  the  needs  of  humanity.  The  church  is  obli- 
gated by  all  its  principles  to  champion  the  cause  of  the 
oppressed  and  disinherited  of  mankind.  It  remains  only 


xii  INTRODUCTION 

to  determine  whether  the  facts  establish  the  presence  of 
such  a  group  in  modern  society.  Then  comes  the  ques- 
tion of  the  nature  and  purpose  of  that  attitude.  The 
church  must  seek  not  merely  justice  for  the  suffering 
and  the  weak,  but  justice  and  the  highest  spiritual  de- 
velopment for  all  the  people. 

In  any  discussion  of  social  ills  the  demand  for  a  pro- 
gram is  always  raised.  It  is  natural  to  seek  a  short  way 
out  of  our  difficulties,  a  simple  solution  for  our  problems, 
a  panacea  for  our  misery.  But  there  is  no  such  remedy 
at  hand.  The  program  is  continually  to  be  made.  All 
that  can  be  done  is  to  point  out  the  general  lines  of  ad- 
vance upon  which  social  reconstruction  is  now  proceed- 
ing, to  make  clear  the  general  principles  of  action  which 
the  gospel  proclaims  and  which  the  conscience  and  prac- 
tise of  humanity  approve,  and  to  insist  that  they  be 
followed  to  further  development.  The  amount  and  char- 
acter of  social  construction  effected  by  the  war  show 
the  futility  of  any  fixed  formula. 

There  is  a  constant  demand  to  be  told  just  what  to  do, 
but  that  is  just  what  must  be  found  out  by  experience  in 
every  situation.  The  Christianizing  of  industry  demands 
initiative  and  experience.  From  the  action  of  others  in 
similar  situations  some  hints  as  to  method  can  be  gath- 
ered from  the  text.  Whatever  directions  can  safely  be 
given  on  the  basis  of  present  experience  will  be  found  in 
the  teachers'  manual  to  be  used  with  this  text. 

I  am  greatly  indebted  to  Miss  Grace  Scribner  for  the 
gathering  and  classifying  of  data,  and  to  Ralph  E.  Dif- 
fendorfer  for  continuous  counsel. 

HARRY  F.  WARD. 


FOREWORD 

Some  years  ago  a  young  preacher  went  to  take  charge 
of  a  church  in  the  neighborhood  of  one  of  the  largest 
producing  units  of  one  of  the  nation's  basic  industries.  It 
was  home  missionary  territory  filled  by  unskilled  immi- 
grant workers.  The  larger  part  of  the  cost  of  the  church 
had  been  given  by  one  of  the  magnates  of  the  local  in- 
dustry. The  larger  part  of  the  annual  budget  came  from 
other  men  at  the  top  of  this  industry.  A  modern  type  of 
home  mission  work  was  developed.  A  social  ministry  was 
organized  to  meet  all  the  needs  of  all  groups  of  the 
community  which  were  not  being  met  by  other  organi- 
zations. But  there  was  little  response  from  the  men. 
The  women  and  children  came,  but  not  the  men.  The 
preacher  wondered  why.  One  night  he-  found  himself  in 
the  midst  of  a  crowd  of  men  coming  home  from  work. 
He  heard  one  man  say  to  another  with  a  bitter  sneer  in 
his  voice,  "Well,  we  worked  for  the  church  again  to- 
night, didn't  we?"  The  curiosity  of  the  preacher  was 
aroused.  He  determined  to  find  out  what  that  meant. 

He  discovered  that  the  great  corporation  which  was 
trying  to  destroy  competition  without,  was  developing 
the  spirit  of  competition- between  the  departments  within 
its  own  organization  in.  order  to  increase  output  and  re- 
duce labor  cost.  Under  this  pressure  some  of  the  fore- 
men of  the  unskilled  gang  had  secured  a  rule  whereby 
overtime  was  not  to  be  paid  for  unless  it  went  beyond 
forty-five  minutes.  Then  it  was  to  be  paid  for  at  the 
rate  of  an  hour.  Under  this  rule  they  then  began  skil- 

xiii 


xiv  FOREWORD 

fully  to  work  their  gangs  overtime  for  different  periods 
less  than  forty-five  minutes,  never  passing  that  limit 
except  under  the  pressure  of  rush  work.  It  did  not  take 
the  unskilled  immigrant  workers  long  to  discover  how 
they  were  being  robbed  of  their  labor.  Then  they  read 
in  the  paper  how  the  chief  owner  of  the  business  gave 
a  gift  to  every  new  church  of  his  denomination  built  in 
that  city.  They  also  knew  that  he  had  given  largely  to 
the  local  church.  Hence  their  bitter  phrase,  "We 
worked  for  the  church  again  to-night." 

The  preacher  came  to  see  that  as  long  as  that  unjust 
industrial  condition  remained,  no  program  that  the  church 
could  develop  would  carry  the  gospel  to  those  men. 
The  Christianity  that  functioned  in  parts  of  the  life 
of  the  head  of  the  business  had  to  become  manifest  in 
the  treatment  of  unskilled  laborers  by  his  foremen.  This 
was  not  a  difficult  task.  It  merely  required  that  he 
should  be  made  acquainted  with  the  facts. 

In  the  same  neighborhood  a  year  or  two  later  a  girl 
was  coming  home  from  work  with  a  crowd  of  her  com- 
panions. She  took'  no  part  in  their  laughter  and  con- 
versation. Suddenly  in  a  moment  of  silence  she  turned 
to  the  rest  and  said,  "I'm  through.  I'm  not  going  back 
there.  I'll  never  do  another  day's  work  in  that  dirty 
place,  and  I  don't  care  what  happens  to  me."  This  atti- 
tude was  the  result  of  four  years  of  monotonous  toil  in 
brutalizing  surroundings.  She  belonged  to  the  church 
and  attended  the  settlement,  but  both  of  them  together 
were  unable  to  prevent  the  moral  disaster  which  was  the 
inevitable  consequence  of  such  an  attitude.  Unchristian 
industrial  conditions  had  proved  stronger  than  organized 
Christianity.  Such  cases  of  spiritual  disaster  are  excep- 


FOREWORD  xv 

tional  perhaps ;  but  so  are  cases  of  large  spiritual  develop- 
ment under  such  hostile  industrial  conditions. 

Such  experiences  made  it  clear  to  that  preacher  that 
there  are  many  conditions  and  relations  from  which  the 
workers  in  modern  industry  suffer  and  from  which  many 
of  those  who  support  the  extension  of  Christianity  now 
profit  that  are  contrary  to  the  teachings  of  Jesus.  He 
became  convinced  that  organized  Christianity  must  dis- 
cover and  remove  these  conditions  before  it  can  carry 
the  gospel  effectively  to  the  groups  which  suffer  from 
them,  that  such  effort  is  indeed  the  proclamation  of  the 
gospel  with  power.  For  some  years  he  has  been  seeking 
to  discover  just  what  are  the  unchristian  conditions  and 
relations  in  the  world  of  work  and  just  how  they  may 
be  removed.  This  book  is  a  part  of  the  undertaking. 


I 

THE  RIGHT  TO  LIVE 


Aim:  To  show  the  necessity  for  the  churches  to  se- 
cure protection  for  the  Iwes  of  the  industrial  workers  to 
whom  they  are  seeking  to  carry  the  gospel. 


THE  RIGHT  TO  LIVE 

Is  the  Worker  Sacred?  "We  use  up  one  batch 
of  men  as  fast  as  we  can,  and  when  they  are  done,  we 
throw  them  aside  and  get  another."  This  was  the  re- 
gretful admission  of  one  big  business  leader  concern- 
ing the  effect  of  his  industry  upon  the  lives  of  its  im- 
migrant workers.  Such  a  fact  opens  new  territory  for 
the  home  missionary  endeavor  of  the  churches.  To  these 
immigrant  toilers  it  sends  Bibles  and  preaching,  classes 
in  English  and  in  civics,  missionaries  and  deaconesses. 
They  cannot  say,  "No  man  cares  for  my  soul,"  but  can 
they  say,  "No  church  cares  for  my  life"?  The  ancient 
Hebrew  law  cared  with  great  tenderness  for  the  well- 
being  of  the  slave  workers,  both  native  and  alien 
(Exod.  21.26;  22.21;  Deut.  14.29).  Jesus  fulfilled  the 
law  at  this  point  by  declaring  a  man  to  be  worth  in- 
finitely more  than  property  r(Matt.  12.12).  Are  not 
the  churches  then  obligated  to  secure  protection  for  the 
livds  of  those  industrial  workers  whom  they  are  seeking 
to  reach  with  his  gospel? 

The  Battle--field  of  Peace.  Except  in  the  case  of 
some  great  explosion,  terrific  railroad  wreck,  or  enor- 
mous marine  disaster,  the  newspaper  headlines  do  not 
chronicle  the  casualties  of  the  peaceful  battle-fields  of  in- 
dustry. That  gruesome  story  is  mostly  buried  in  official 
government  reports.  It  makes  grim  reading.  A  con- 
servative estimate,  based  on  the  records  of  a  number  of 

3 


4  rilK  GOSPEL -FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

states,  puts  the  death  list  of  American  industry  at  25,000 
a  year.  The  number  of  serious  injuries  is  estimated  at 
all  the  way  from  half  a  million  to  two  million  a  year.  In 
the  mining  and  metallurgical  industries  of  this  country 
3,500  men  are  killed  and  over  100,000  injured  each  year. 
The  director  of  the  Bureau  of  Mines  declares  that  half 
the  fatalities  and  three  fourths  of  the  injuries  could  easily 
be  prevented,  and  computes  this  to  mean  an  annual  money 
loss  of  $12,000,000  a  year.  In  France  and  Belgium  the 
accident-  and  death-rate  among  miners  is  one  fifth  of 
what  it  is  in  this  country.  In  1914,  its  first  year  of  oper- 
ation,  the  Industrial  Accident  Board  of  Massachusetts 
reported  454  fatal  accidents,  and  one  non-fatal  accident 
for  every  ten  wage-earners  in  the  state.  The  New  York 
Labor  Department  (omitting  three  catastrophes  from 
fire  and  explosion)  thus  reports  the  causes  of  fatal  in- 
dustrial accidents  in  1911-14  in  the  order  of  number  and 
percentage. 

Mechanical  power,  457  or  42.3  per  cent. 
Heat  and  electricity,  259  or  23.9  per  cent 
Fall  of  persons,  199  or  18.4  per  cent. 
Weights  and  falling  objects,  81  or  7.5  per  cent. 
Miscellaneous,  85  or  7.9  per  cent. 

The  uncovered  belt,  the  unguarded  saw  and  knife,  the 
unsunk  set-screw,  the  defective  wiring,  the  careless  work- 
man— these  are  the  occasions  of  destruction  in  modern 
industry.  The  cost  of  their  death  harvest  must  be  added 
to  the  price  of  the  goods  which  we  buy. 

The  Price  of  Coal.  Gibson,  the  English  poet,  tells 
how  he  came  to  write  of  the  sufferings  and  struggles  of 
the  toilers.  "Sitting  snug  in  my  easy  chair,  I  stirred 


THE  RIGHT  TO  LIVE  5 

the  fire  to  flames."    Then  as  he  watched  the  glow,  "the 
flickering  fancies  came."    He  saw: 

Amber  woodland  streaming; 
Topaz  islands  dreaming, 
Sunset  cities  gleaming, 
Spire  on  burning  spire; 


Witches'  caldrons  leaping; 
Golden  galleys  sweeping, 
Out  from  sea-walled  Tyre. 

Then  suddenly  another  picture  came. 

I  shut  my  eyes  to  heat  and  light; 

And  saw,  in  sudden  night, 

Crouched  in  the  dripping  dark, 

With  steaming  shoulders  stark, 

The  man  who  hews  the  coal  to  feed  my  fire. 

Then  he  wrote  his  poems  about  the  lives  snuffed  out 
by  the  quick  explosion  that  shatters  the  rock  upon  them ; 
about  the  men  sitting  with  clasped  hands,  waiting  in  the 
dark  for  the  stealthy  after-damp,  that, 

creeping,  creeping,  * 

Takes  strong  lads  by  the  throat  and  drops  them  sleeping, 
To  wake  no  more  for  any  woman's  weeping, 

about  the  mothers  and  the  girls  struck  silent  by  the 
news  of  the  sudden  death  of  sons  and  lovers,  and  left  to 
live  in  broken-hearted  loneliness. 

Working  with  Death.  Mining  is  only  one  of  the  ex- 
tremely dangerous  occupations.  The  railroads  of  this 
country  have  reduced  passenger  deaths  by  accident  al- 
most to  a  minimum,  but  they  kill  ten  thousand  workers 
every  year  and  injure  one  hundred  thousand  more.  The 
price  of  the  safety  of  the  passenger  is  the  death  of  these 
workers.  The  Bulgarians  have  a  proverb  that  "there  is 
not  one  bridge,  there  is  not  one  big  building  if  it  is  to 


6  THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

last,  that  does  not  have  some  human  soul  at  its  founda- 
tion to  give  it  strength  and  life."  This  is  a  recognition 
of  the  grim  fact  that  every  great  structure  is  consecrated 
by  the  blood  of  humble  workers.  The  structural  steel 
workers  have  the  highest  recorded  death-rate  of  any  oc- 
cupation in  the  country.  Their  life-blood  goes  with  the 
rivets  that  hold  together  our  great  steel  bridges  and  the 
frames  of  our  sky-scrapers.  If  there  is  a  more  danger- 
ous trade,  it  is  that  of  the  man  who  goes  down  to  the 
sea  in  ships.  But  he  is  "the  forgotten  man."  The  gov- 
ernment has  kept  record  of  the  deaths  and  injuries  on 
railroads  and  in  manufactures.  In  the  report  of  the 
Fisheries  Commission  there  is  no  information  concerning 
the  fatal  accidents  among  deep-sea  fishermen.  It  has  just 
been*  discovered  that  milling  is  a  dangerous  occupation. 
The  grain  dust  in  mills  and  elevators  has  been  shown  to 
be  even  more  inflammable  than  coal  dust,  capable  of  de- 
veloping a  higher  pressure  upon  explosion.  During  re- 
cent years  a  number  of  men  have  been  killed  and  in- 
jured in  mills  and  elevators  from  explosions  caused  by 
open  lights,  by  sparks  from  motors,  and  by  the  friction  of 
belts  and  grinding  machines.  It  is  the  unreckoned  part 
of  the  cost  of  bread.  In  one  of  his  poems  Kipling 
reckons  the  lives  of  the  sailors  of  England  spent  to  es- 
tablish her  sea  power  and  makes  them  say: 

"If  blood  be  the  price  of  admiralty,  Lord  God,  we  ha' 
paid  in  full." 

What  price  do  the  industrial  workers  pay  for  our 
prosperity  ?  The  prophets  brought  a  bitter  word  of  God 
to  the  zealous  worshipers  of  old :  "And  when  ye  spread 
forth  your  hands,  I  will  hide  mine  eyes  from  you;  yea. 


THE  RIGHT  TO  LIVE  7 

when  ye  make  many  prayers,  I  will  not  hear :  your  hands 
are  full  of  blood"  (Isa.  1.15).  How  does  this  apply  to 
the  people  who  labor  hard  to  build  churches  and  invite 
the  toilers  to  share  in  their  worship,  and  yet  do  nothing 
to  save  those  toilers  from  death  by  accidents  which  are 
preventable  ? 

The  Old  Days.  "On  the  ninth  of  last  October,  at 
about  ten  o'clock  in  the  evening,  Walter  Stelmaszyk,  a 
sample-boy,  went  to  one  of  the  blast-furnaces  to  get  a 
sample  of  iron  to  take  to  the  laboratory.  He  stood  at 
one  of  the  entrances  to  the  platform.  The  bright  liquid 
iron  was  running  out  of  its  tapping-hole  and  flowing  in 
a  sparkling,  snarling  stream  along  its  sandy  bed  to  the 
big  twenty-ton  ladle  that  stood  beside  the  platform  on 
a  flat  car.  Walter  Stelmaszyk  stood  still  for  a  moment 
and  gazed  at  this  scene.  It  was  well  for  him  that  he 
hesitated.  Suddenly  there  came  a  flash,  a  roar,  and  a 
drizzle  of  molten  metal.  Milak  Lazich,  Andrew  Vrkic, 
Anton  Pietszak,  and  Louis  Fuerlant  lay  charred  and 
dead  on  the  casting  floor."  The  cause  ?  Some  fire-brick, 
fallen  out  from  beside  the  tapping-hole,  had  been  cheaply 
replaced  by  fire-clay,  which  soon  wore  through  and  let 
the  hot  metal  come  in  contact  with  water.  This  was  typi- 
cal of  the  steel  industry  ten  years  ago.  But  those  days 
have  gone  forever.  The  steel  industry  has  become  a 
leader  in  the  safety-first  movement.  It  not  only  installs 
safety  devices,  but  also  continually  instructs  foremen  and 
workers  in  the  use  and  observance  of  them.  In  the  old 
days  many  men  were  killed  when  crossing  the  switch- 
ing tracks.  There  were  danger  signs,  but  "it  is  useless 
to  expect  a  Bohemian  who  has  worked  all  day  in  the 
heat  and  glare  of  a  blast  furnace  to  pay  much  attention 


The  isolated  miner  working  a  one-man  drill  is  in  constant 
fear  of  an  accident  where  no  assistance  can  reach  him. 


THE  RIGHT  TO  LIVE  9 

to  a  danger  sign,  especially  if  he  doesn't  know  how  to 
read — which  he  usually  doesn't."  The  men  expected  the 
danger  signs  to  be  supplemented  by  the  ringing  of  the 
locomotive  bell  and  the  cries  of  the  engineer.  One  man 
described  his  accident  as  follows:  "No  choo-choo!  No 

ling-ling !  No  ' you,  get  out  of  the  way !' 

Just  run  over."  To-day  that  man  is  taught  to  read  and 
appreciate  the  danger  sign. 

Preventive  Measures.  Nearly  all  the  states  now  have 
some  legislation  to  protect  the  lives  and  health  of  the 
wage-earners.  These  preventive  measures  are  supported 
by  many  owners  and  managers.  The  general  manager  of 
the  Remington  Typewriter  Company,  as  a  result  of 
twenty-five  years  of  engineering  experience,  says  that 
legislation  will  be  futile  that  does  not  invite  and  secure 
at  every  stage  the  cooperation  of  trained  mechanical  en- 
gineers. He  demands  uniform  state  safety  laws  and 
scientific  administration  of  them. 

The  Bureau  of  Mines  has  recorded  the  rescue  of  more 
than  one  hundred  entombed  miners  by  government 
agents  and  many  more  rescues  by  volunteers  trained  by 
the  Bureau's  rescue  and  first  aid  stations  established  in 
hundreds  of  mines  throughout  the  country.  The  total 
number  of  miners  now  trained  for  this  rescue  work  has 
reached  24,975  (1914).  The  states  are  already  expend- 
ing more  than  the  federal  government  in  behalf  of  mine 
safety.  Pennsylvania  makes  yearly  an  expenditure  of 
$213,000.  Twelve  individual  mining  companies  have  res- 
cue cars,  four  more  than  are  operated  by  the  federal 
Bureau.  Industrial  accidents  are  being  prevented  by  im- 
proved state  inspection  methods,  by  safeguarding  ma- 
chines before  they  leave  the  factory,  by  the  maintenance 


10          THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

of  safety  museums,  by  lectures,  moving  pictures,  school 
talks,  and  the  elimination  of  danger  spots  in  plants. 
These  measures  are  an  expression  of  Jesus'  teaching  con- 
cerning the  worth  of  every  human  life.  The  churches 
have  both  proclaimed  and  acted  upon  this  teaching  in 
their  missionary  activities,  until  now  it  is  expressed  in 
these  safety-first  measures  in  the  industrial  world.  Are 
not  the  churches  then  obligated  to  help  extend  and  en- 
force these  measures?  There  is  need  of  constant  vigi- 
lance if  the  lives  of  the  workers  are  to  be  protected. 

A  current  newspaper  says:  "The  lives  of  more  than 
one  hundred  men  were  snuffed  out  by  the  mine  disaster 
in  Hastings  Canyon,  Colorado.  The  accident,  it  is  said, 
was  due  to  the  neglect  of  the  company  officials  to  pro- 
vide certain  protection  demanded  by  law  and  asked  for 
by  the  employees/'  On  the  train  the  other  day  a  young 
man  was  telling  his  companion  about  the  high  wages  he 
was  making  in  a  ship-building  plant.  Presently  he  said : 
"That's  a  pretty  dangerous  place  to  work.  They  kill  a 
man  about  once  in  two  weeks,  and  somebody  is  injured 
every  day." 

Taking  a  Chance.  The  life  of  the  worker  cannot  be 
made  safe  merely  by  regulation.  Managers  of  industry 
rightly  complain  about  the  difficulty  of  educating 
workers  to  be  careful,  about  their  willingness  to  take 
a  chance.  This  attitude  is  a  reflection  of  the  American 
philosophy  of  life.  When  Kipling  was  on  his  first  visit 
to  this  country,  he  was  astonished  to  find  his  train  going 
across  a  trestle  that  looked  as  if  it  were  ready  on  the 
slightest  provocation  to  crumble  away  into  the  mountain 
torrent  beneath.  He  remonstrated  to  the  engineer,  who 
replied,  "We  guess  that  when  a  trestle's  built  it  ought 


THE  RIGHT  TO  LIVE  11 

to  last  forever.  Sometimes  we  guess  ourselves  into  the 
depot  and  sometimes  we  guess  ourselves  into  hell." 
Here  speaks  the  spirit  of  reckless  hurry  and  gain  which 
runs  through  American  life.  It  makes  some  managers 
say,  "What  does  it  matter?  It's  only  a  hunkie."  And 
it  makes  some  hunkies  recklessly  careless  of  their  own 
lives  and  of  their  fellow  workers  in  defiance  of  the  or- 
ders of  the  management.  To  both  managers  and 
workers,  to  owners  and  wage-earners,  the  church  must 
make  clear  the  teaching  "of  Jesus  concerning  the  value 
of  every  life,  until  they  will  observe  it  both  for  them- 
selves and  for  others.  There  is  no  better  way  to  teach 
immigrants  a  new  reverence  for  human  life  than  by  show- 
ing them,  through  measures  for  their  safety  while  at 
work,  that  their  lives  are  reverenced  both  by  the  man- 
agement and  the  community. 

The  Next  Step.  At  a  conference  concerning  welfare 
work,  one  machinist  got  up  and  said:  "I  have  been 
working  all  week  at  a  machine  from  which  I  took  the 
safeguards.  Did  I  break  a  law  of  this  state,  because  I 
want  to  take  a  chance?  Not  a  bit  of  it.  But  because  I 
have  a  wife  and  two  boys  to  feed.  I  cannot  keep  up 
with  the  efficiency  standard  of  my  plant  and  operate 
that  machine  with  the  safety  device  on  it.  I  must  either 
lose  my  job,  or  take  a  chance  and  break  the  law."  This 
is  evidence  of  the  fact  that  laws  will  not  enforce  them- 
selves. They  are  not  equipped  with  self-starters.  This 
experience  also  indicates  that  there  are  some  further 
tasks  to  be  undertaken  before  the  life  of  the  industrial 
worker  is  made  sacred.  Christianity  has  yet  to  reckon 
with  that  desire  for  profit  that  puts  pressure  on  the  work- 
ers to  nullify  the  safety  that  has  been  provided. 


12          THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

From  Different  Angles.  Most  of  our  industrial 
states  now  have  workmen's  compensation  and  employers' 
liability  laws  which  assure  the  workingman  >and  his 
family  of  some  relief  from  the  financial  burden  imposed 
by  industrial  accidents.  They  are  a  product  of  the  Chris- 
tian conscience.  A  bulletin  of  the  Manufacturers'  Asso- 
ciation reports  that  "under  the  first  year's  operation  of 
the  Pennsylvania  Workmen's  Compensation  Law,  1916, 
the  total  awards  amounted  to  $4,224,875.  For  eyes,  arms, 
hands,  legs,  and  feet,  the  total  amount  was  $562,204. 
Two  hundred  and  eighty-three  eyes  had  the  sight  totally 
destroyed,  whether  the  eye  itself  was  removed  or  not; 
arms,  legs,  and  feet  were  amputated  to  the  number  of 
209. 

1  eye  $950 

1  arm  1,537 

1  leg   1,463 

1  hand   1,347 

1  foot   1,241 

"The  money  total  is  the  amount  actually  paid,  or  to  be 
paid  in  instalments,  to  the  injured  workers.  It  does  not 
include  the  cost  of  medical  and  surgical  services  which 
the  employers  paid." 

To  a  writer  in  a  working-class  paper  it  seems  as 
though  the  bulletin  treats  this  matter  "calmly  and  coolly, 
as  though  it  were  giving  the  latest  quotations  on  pigs' 
feet  or  calves'  brains.  These  tragedies,  each  one  a  fear- 
ful calamity  to  the  humble  toiler  and  his  family,  are  a 
by-product  in  the  profit  system  of  wealth  production. 
They  are  inseparably  bound  up  with  long  hours,  monoto- 
nous labor,  starved  minds  and  bodies.  A  father's  eye- 


THE  RIGHT  TO  LIVE  13 

sight  gone;  a  brother's  arm  crushed  in  the  rolls;  a  sis- 
ter's hand  torn  to  shreds.  This  is  the  price,  not  calcu- 
lable in  cold  dollars  and  cents,  that  we  pay  for  the  hideous 
institution  of  capitalism." 

Occupational  Disease.  In  a  small  town  that  was  full 
of  churches,  one  Sunday  morning  while  the  church  bells 
were  ringing  and  the  people  going  to  worship  God,  the 
writer  found  two  small  shacks  in  which  thirty  to  forty 
Italians  were  housed  in  double-decker  bunks.  Here  they 
slept  and  cooked.  The  cracks  in  the  boards  let  in  the 
winter  weather.  The  air  was  foul  and  damp  from  the 
cooking  and  washing.  In  the  bunks  two  of  the  men  lay 
sick  with  pneumonia  contracted  from  exposure  at  their 
work  in  the  excavation  and  from  the  bad  air  of  the 
shack  in  which  they  slept.  The  church  people  of  that 
town  who  were  supporting  home  missions  had  no 
knowledge  of  thia  situation  right  at  their  own  church 
doors.  It  was  a  small  example  of  occupational  disease 
which  takes  a  heavier  toll  of  life  from  the  industrial 
workers  than  even  preventable  accidents.  The  United 
States  Health  Service  puts  first  among  the  more  im- 
portant factors  which  affect  the  health  of  the  wage-earn- 
ing population  the  "occupational  hazards  of  disease/' 
that  is,  the  risk  of  those  diseases  which  originate  in  cer- 
tain trades.  They  are  divided  into  two  groups:  those 
which  affect  the  workers  in  harmful  substances,  in 
metals,  dust,  gases,  vapors  and  fumes;  and  those  which 
affect  the  workers  under  harmful  conditions,  heat,  mois- 
ture, cold,  confined  air  or  bad  ventilation,  overcrowding, 
compressed  air,  excessive  light,  strains  of  muscles, 
nerves,  or  special  senses,  and  the  like. 

The    Dangerous    Trades.      The    European    record) 


14          THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A   \VORKING  WORLD 

finds  that  the  occupations  in  which  the  death-rate  is 
highest  are  those  in  which  the  worker  is  exposed  to  hard 
dust,  mineral  or  animal,  and  those  in  which  the  worker 
is  exposed  to  inclement  weather  while  unable  to  exer- 
cise. The  grim  list  of  occupational  diseases  includes : 
"the  hatter's  shake,  the  potter's  rot,  the  painter's  colic 
and  wrist-drop,  the  match-maker's  phossy-jaw,  the  brass- 
worker's  asthma/'  Those  who  work  in  the  wool,  leather, 
and  horsehair  industries  are  subject  to  anthrax,  due  to 
the  introduction  of  a  minute  bacillus  that  clings  to  the 
hides  of  diseased  animals.  Wood  alcohol  poisoning  at- 
tacks varnishers  and  furniture  finishers,  lacquerers,  hat- 
ters, and  others.  It  results  not  infrequently  in  partial  or 
total  blindness.  Those  who  work  in  the  caissons  con- 
nected with  the  building  of  bridges,  tunnels,  subways, 
and  sky-scrapers,  have  the  disease  called  "the  bends,"  or 
compressed  air  illness.  Blood  sometimes  runs  from  the 
eyes,  nose,  and  ears,  and  the  pains  in  the  joints  and 
muscles  are  excruciating.  Paralysis  and  death  are  not 
uncommon. 

Industrial  Poisons.  A  federal  government  health  re- 
port declares  "there  is  scarcely  any  one  line  of  modern 
manufacture  which  is  free  from  the  dangers  of  indus- 
trial poisoning."  Most  of  the  occupational  diseases  come 
from  exposure  to  poisons,  particularly  phosphorus,  lead, 
mercury,  and  arsenic.  Workers  in  certain  parts  of  the 
boot  and  shoe  industry  are  exposed  to  naphtha  fumes. 
In  the  rubber  industry  the  workers  are  exposed  to  poison 
from  anil  in,  also  from  antimony.  They  often  get 
"gassed"  from  the  fumes  of  naphtha,  benzin,  or  gaso- 
line. Hat-making  is  a  dangerous  business.  About  fourteen 
per  cent,  of  the  hat-makers  examined  by  the  New  York 


THE  RIGHT  TO  LIVE  15 

City  health  department  were  suffering  from  mercurial 
poisoning.  The  workers  in  fur  also  are  commonly  af- 
flicted with  eczema,  due  to  the  dipping  of  the  bare  hands 
in  dyes  and  other  chemicals.  In  the  manufacture  of 
dyes,  wall-paper,  artificial  flowers,  chemicals,  glass,  oil- 
cloth, and  many  other  products,  arsenic  endangers  the 
health  of  the  worker,  causing  a  number  of  painful  dis- 
eases and  sometimes  death,  resembling  that  from  chol- 
era. Those  who  manufacture  thermometers,  electric 
meters,  and  explosives  are  also  exposed  to  mercurial  poi- 
soning, whose  final  result  is  general  nervous  paralysis. 
No  less  than  twenty-seven  trades  are  menaced  by  arsenic 
poisoning.  New  forms  of  industrial  poisoning  have  de- 
veloped during  the  war  from  the  chemicals  used  in  the 
manufacture  of  high  explosives  and  in  the  preparation 
of  airplane  wings.  These  poisons,  their  effects,  and  their 
prevention  have  been  promptly  studied,  and  our  manu- 
facturers, encouraged  by  various  government  agencies, 
are  endeavoring  to  avoid  the  injury  to  workers  expe- 
rienced by  England  and  Germany. 

The  Dangers  of  Lead.  Of  all  industrial  poisons, 
however,  lead  is  in  most  common  use.  In  approxi- 
mately 150  industries  it  daily  exposes  thousands  of 
American  workers  to  the  risk  of  lead-poisoning,  with  its 
paroxysms  of  colic,  its  nervous  convulsions,  its  partial 
paralysis,  wrist-drop,  and  often  insanity.  It  also  de- 
velops progressive  hardening  of  the  blood-vessels,  fre- 
quently developing  into  cerebral  hemorrhage  and  death. 
The  records  of  individual  workers  who  have  suffered 
from  it  are  ghastly  reading.  Here  is  a  man  dying  at 
the  age  of  thirty-nine,  leaving  a  widow  with  two  chil- 
dren. A  tall,  vigorous  man,  weighing  186  pounds,  em- 


OCCUPATIONAL  DISEASES 


1.  PHOSSY    JAW.    Necrosis 
caused    by    the    inhaling    of    white 
phosphorus  fumes.      The   poison   at- 
tacks   the    alveolar    process    of    the 
jaw    bone    which    is    least    protected 
against  infection.    Investigations  and 
prohibitory    tares    have    recently    re- 
formed the  match  industry  in  which 
the   disease   most   frequently   occurs. 
One   manufacturing   firm   generously 
renounced    their   patent   rights   to    a 
safety  process  so  that  others  might 
use  it. 

2.  ANTHRAX.     The  largest  rec- 
ord of  this  infection  is  found  among 
handlers   of   hides  and   tanners,    for 
the    disease     is     of     animal     origin. 
Leather  workers,   kid  workers,  brush 
makers,    workers   in    hair    and    hair- 
clotht   wool  sorters   and   workers   in 
the    woolen    industry,    longshoremen 
and   veterinarians   are   frequent   vic- 
tims of  the  disease.    Adequate  meth- 
ods of  disinfection  which  will  leave 
the   hides  uninjured  are  now  being 
developed. 


3.  LEAD  POISONING.    Lead  is 
used  in  more  than  one  hundred  in- 
dustries  mid   the   ranks   of   the   em- 
ployees give  many  examples  of  lead 
poisoning.      The  greatest  number  of 
these    are   due    to    the    breathing    of 
the  fumes  or  to  the  inhaling  of  the 
dust.      The  nerve  tissue  becomes  af- 
fected   and    causes    paralysis.      One 
common     type     of     this     disease    is 
"Wrist  drop,"  and  the  condition  in- 
dicates a  muscular  fatigue  as  an  in- 
ducing cause. 

4.  PAPILLOMA.       In     occupa- 
tions  where    the   skin    surfaces    are 
exposed     to     irritating     substances, 
warty    growths    appear    which    may 
develop    into    tumors.      A    long-con- 
tinued injury  to  the  skin  serves  as 
a    basis    for    the    subsequent    devel- 
opment   of    a    cancerous    condition. 
The  illustration  shores  papilloma  of 
the  hand  of  an  iron  worker.      The 
dangerous  lesion  is  due  to  friction 
from  the  tools  of  the  trade. 


Courtesy  of  American  Association   of  Labor  Legislation. 


THE  RIGHT  TO  LIVE  17 

ployed  in  the  finer  part  of  painting  as  a  letterer  and 
striper  in  car-shops,  worked  steadily  until  he  was  sud- 
denly stricken,  and  died  in  eight  days.  Here  is  an  un- 
skilled laborer  who  for  years  dipped  manufactured 
articles  into  paint  baths  and  then  later  stood  between  the 
drying  racks  and  packed  the  dipped  things  for  shipment. 
For  five  years  he  suffered  terribly  due  to  lead-poisoning 
from  the  wet  paint  that  dripped  upon  him  from  the  rack. 
Three  of  those  years  he  was  unable  to  do  a  day's  work. 
Here  is  Sadie  G.,  an  intelligent,  neat,  clean  girl  who 
worked  in  an  embroidery  factory.  She  used  a  white 
powder  to  transfer  the  perforated  design  to  the  cloth. 
Her  last  employer  found  that  using  white  lead  powder 
mixed  with  resin,  instead  of  chalk  or  talcum,  prevented 
the  design  from  being  rubbed  off.  It  cannot  be  con- 
ceived that  he  knew  anything  of  lead-poisoning.  None 
of  the  girls  knew  of  the  change  nor  of  its  danger.  Con- 
tinually they  breathed  this  powder.  In  the  hot,  crowded 
workroom  soon  Sadie's  appetite  began  to  flag.  She  lost 
her  color.  Very  soon  she  had  terrible  colic  and  could 
not  go  to  work.  Her  hands  and  feet  swelled.  She  lost 
the  use  of  one  hand.  Her  teeth  and  gums  were  blue. 
When  she  finally  went  to  the  hospital,  and  an  examina- 
tion revealed  lead-poisoning,  no  one  knew  that  her  work 
had  involved  the  use  of  lead  until  one  of  her  friends  re- 
called hearing  the  manager  send  a  messenger  out  sev- 
eral times  with  money  to  buy  white-lead  powder. 

Stop  It!  Lead-poisoning  can  be  stopped.  In  Eng- 
land and  Germany  the  use  of  lead  is  so  hedged  about 
with  stringent  regulations  as  to  rob  it  of  its  worst  dan- 
gers. In  large  English  white-lead  factories  not  a  case  of 
lead-poisoning  was  found  in  several  successive  years.  In 


18          THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

this  country  twenty-five  cases  were  found  in  one  year  in 
a  model  factory  employing  two  hundred.  In  a  small  fac- 
tory in  operation  only  one  year,  where  nine  men  are  regu- 
larly employed,  using  molten  lead  as  a  tempering  agent, 
nine  men  have  had  lead-poisoning.  The  American  Asso- 
ciation for  Labor  Legislation  publishes  the  following 
summary  of  European  and  American  conditions: 

EUROPEAN  AMERICAN 

White-lead  factories  in  Diis-  American  white-lead  factory 
seldorf  employ  150  men;  ex-  employs  170  men;  60  cases  in 
amining  physician  reports  2  1911. 

c^s  !?  J910/-  American  white-  and  red-lead 

EngUsh  white-  and  red-lead  factory  employs  85  men;  doc- 

factory   employs   90   men;    no  tors>   records    for   six    months 

case  of  poisoning  in  five  sue-  shOw  35  men  ''leaded." 

at 


batteries)   80  to   100  men  are  case*    o      Po>son'nS    '«    nine 
employed;  no  case  for  over  a 

year.  An  American  local   dippers' 

Government    factory    inspec-  union  reports  that  13  men  out 

tion  in  Staffordshire  potteries  of  a  local  of  85  dippers  had  16 

reports    13    cases    among    786  attacks    of    lead-poisoning    in 

male  dippers  in  one  year.  one  year. 

In  Great  Britain  the  ratio  of  cases  to  employees  is  one 
to  eighty-nine.  In  this  country  it  is  one  to  ten.  The 
British  result  is  accomplished  by  drawing  off  fumes  and 
dust,  by  special  ventilation,  by  forbidding  the  dry  sand- 
papering or  dry  chipping  off  of  lead  paint,  by  separat- 
ing workrooms  and  lunch-rooms,  and  by  special  clean- 
liness in  the  washing  of  hands  and  changing  of  clothes 
on  leaving  the  workroom.  Lead-poisoning  is  on  the  in- 
crease in  this  country  in  the  automobile  factories  where 
men  are  "sanding  the  boxes"  without  proper  protection. 
Belgium,  regarding  human  life  as  worth  more  than  a 


THE  RIGHT  TO  LIVE  19 

highly  polished  surface  on  an  automobile,  prohibits  the 
dry  sandpapering  of  paint.  The  failure  of  American  in- 
dustrial communities  to  sense  the  seriousness  of  this  situ- 
ation is  strikingly  revealed  by  a  recent  news  item  in  the 
Chicago  Herald:  ''Arrested  because  he  told  laborers 

seeking  work  at  the  Company's  paint  plant 

that  they  would  die  of  lead-poisoning  if  they  worked 
there,  Michael  Strym  was  fined  one  dollar  and  costs 

by  Judge  ." 

Study  and  Action  Needed.  Every  industrial  cen- 
ter in  this  country  should  maintain  a  clinic  for  the  study 
of  occupational  disease,  such  as  was  organized  first  in 
Milan,  Italy.  Philadelphia,  Pittsburgh,  Cleveland,  Chi- 
cago, St.  Louis  are  all  places  where  the  study  of  dan- 
gerous industries  should  be  undertaken.  In  March,  1916, 
the  commissioner  of  health  in  New  York  City  authorized 
the  opening  of  a  clinic  for  the  study  of  occupational 
diseases.  There  was  no  appropriation  available.  He 
used  a  loft  in  a  building  owned  by  the  health  depart- 
ment. He  begged,  borrowed,  or  stole  furniture  from 
the  other  offices  to  serve  the  bare  necessities.  The 
laboratories  of  the  department  of  health  were,  of  course, 
at  the  disposal  of  the  new  branch.  Has  the  Christian  con- 
science no  obligation  to  see  that  our  public  health  de- 
partment be  given  the  means  to  make  the  investigations 
that  may  save  the  lives  of  the  workers  in  dangerous 
trades?  What  would  be  the  missionary  effect  upon 
those  workers,  native  and  alien,  if  they  knew  that  the 
churches  were  actively  conducting  a  propaganda  for 
their  protection  from  occupational  disease  ?  Here  is  also 
an  opportunity  for  pioneer  service  by  Christian  em- 
ployers, i  One  of  our  largest  paint  companies  has  fur- 


20          THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

nished  an  example  by  its  methods  to  protect  its  em- 
ployees from  lead-poisoning.  One  of  the  biggest  match 
companies  contributed  notably  to  the  abolition  of  the  use 
of  poisonous  phosphorus  in  that  industry  by  its  willing- 
ness to  relinquish  its  patents.  The  American  Chemical 
Society  has  a  committee  to  study  occupational  disease  in 
the  chemical  trade  and  to  secure  sane  and  uniform  legis- 
lation. At  the  1916  meeting  papers  were  presented  on 
the  newer  industrial  poisons,  and  opinions  were  expressed 
in  favor  of  the  establishment  of  a  "safety  museum"  and 
the  medical  inspection  of  all  industries. 

Deadly  Dust.  Industrial  poison  is  only  one  of  the 
enemies  that  daily  lie  in  wait  to  attack  the  servants  of 
industry.  In  many  of  our  great  industries  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  workers  are  exposed  to  the  deadly  effects 
of  bad  air  and  dust.  The  national  census  and  state  in- 
dustrial surveys  shows  an  extra  mortality  for  tuberculosis 
and  pneumonia  among  the  industrial  workers.  The  cot- 
ton industry,  with  its  lint-filled  atmosphere,  its  high  hu- 
midity and  temperature ;  the  silk  industry,  with  the  un- 
regulated moisture  of  the  weaving  shed  and  dye  house; 
the  metal  manufacturing  trades  with  their  exposure  to 
dust  and  vapor  and  extreme  heat;  certain  processes  of 
the  boot  and  shoe  industry,  where  trimming,  shaving, 
scouring,  polishing,  finishing,  and  cleaning  parts  of  the 
shoe  generate  dust  of  leather;  lint,  fiber,  bristles,  dry 
flax,  sand,  emery,  and  carborundum — all  these  expose  the 
workers  to  a  high  tuberculosis  risk.  "The  humble  stone- 
cutter who  spends  his  life  in  carving  lasting  memorials 
for  his  fellow  men,  on  account  of  the  dust  he  breathes, 
dies  fifteen  years  ahead  of  his  time."  The  lint  of  the 
cotton-mills,  the  dust  of  the  metal  trades,  the  quarries, 


THE  RIGHT  TO  LIVE  21 

the  shoe  shops,  and  the  coal  mines  feed  on  the  lungs 
of  the  workers,  and  they  never  go  hungry.  Tuberculosis 
is  entirely  an  industrial  and  social  disease. 

Cure  or  Prevention?  One  city  in  this  country  has 
spent  large  sums  of  money,  enormous  skill,  and  much 
Christian  compassion  in  the  erection  of  a  great  tuber- 
culosis sanatorium;  yet  its  beds  accommodate  only  a 
fraction  of  those  who  want  admission.  Those  in  charge 
can  receive  only  incipient  cases,  they  can  keep  them  only 
ninety  days,  and  then  they  must  discharge  them  with  the 
notation,  "on  the  road  to  recovery."  Yet  the  chief  cause 
of  tuberculosis  shown  on  the  records  of  that  hospital  is 
dry  grinding  in  the  metal  trades,  for  that  is  a  metal- 
manufacturing  city.  This  means  that  many  half-cured 
workers  are  sent  back  to  the  same  trade  which  gave 
them  the  disease.  That  sanatorium  is  an  expression  of 
the  missionary  spirit  of  Christianity,  which  has  taught  the 
people  in  civic  action  to  love  their  neighbors  as  them- 
selves. Will  not  this  spirit  now  move  to  prevent  the 
disease  which  it  has  sought  to  cure? 

"Misery  Diseases."  It  is  not  only  because  of  his 
extra  risk  from  preventable  accidents  and  occupational 
disease  that  the  industrial  worker  dies  faster  than  other 
groups.  The  modern  pathologists  classify  about  eighty 
per  cent,  of  our  diseases  as  "misery  diseases" ;  that  is,  they 
are  due  entirely  to  improper  conditions  of  life  and  labor: 
The  United  States  Public  Health  Service  finds  the  main 
reason  for  unhealthful  modes  of  living  to  be  economic. 
It  thus  classifies  the  causes  of  the  low  health  of  the  wage- 
workers  :  first,  inadequate  diet ;  second,  bad  housing  con- 
ditions ;  third,  community  environment.  The  death  angel 
is  not  impartial  when  he  passes  through  our  cities.  The 


22          THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

highest  death-rate  is  found  in  the  districts  where  the 
people  live  whose  wages  will  not  provide  adequate  diet 
nor  proper  housing.  An  intensive  study  of  six  tenement 
blocks  in  New  York  City  showed  that  while  the  death- 
rate  for  the  city  as  a  whole  was  18.3  per  thousand,  and 
51.5  per  thousand  for  children  under  five  years  of  age, 
in  those  particular  blocks  it  varied  from  22.3  to  24.9 
per  thousand  for  all  ages,  and  from  592  to  92.2  per 
thousand  for  children  under  five  years  of  age.  The  dif- 
ference in  the  tuberculosis  death-rate  in  three  working- 
class  districts  in  Cleveland  was  5  per  thousand  in  a  good 
neighborhood,  23  in  an  average  one,  but  35  for  the  worst. 
The  mortality  statistics  of  the  federal  census  show  that 
the  death-rate  in  the  cities  where  large  numbers  of  low- 
paid  workers  live  runs  all  the  way  from  three  to  nine 
per  cent,  above  the  average.  In  those  cities  the  line  be- 
tween the  sections  occupied  by  the  families  of  low-paid 
foreign-born  workingmen  and  those  occupied  by  skilled 
workers,  business  men,  and  other  residents  is  sharply 
drawn. 

Equal  Rights  to  Life.  Here  is  a  great  fact  chal- 
lenging the  Christian  conscience:  the  industrial  wage- 
earners  are  subject  to  a  much  higher  mortality  than  the 
other  contributors  to  the  community  life.  The  insurance 
statistics  of  England  show  that  the  industrial  wage- 
earner  has  an  average  expectation  of  life  of  27  years, 
but  the  leisure  class  man  has  an  average  life  expectancy 
of  57  years.  Is  the  great  message,  "whosoever  will,"  to 
apply  simply  to  spiritual  privileges  and  not  to  the  right  to 
live?  What  is  the  meaning  of  "equal  rights  to  life,  lib- 
erty, and  the  pursuit  of  happiness"?  If  the  intelligent 
and  well-to-do  are  able  to  find  large  exemption  from  the 


THE  RIGHT  TO  LIVE  23 

risks  of  death,  and  then  fail  to  provide  the  same  safety 
for  others,  what  then  becomes  of  democracy  and  Chris- 
tianity ?  The  game  with  death  is  a  game  which  all  men 
must  play  with  the  risk  of  losing,  and  the  worker  has 
ever  played  it  bravely  in  the  fields,  in  the  forest,  on  the 
sea,  and  in  the  mines.  Over  the  Sailors'  Home  in  Lii- 
beck  is  this  inscription,  "It  is  necessary  to  sail  the  sea ; 
it  is  not  necessary  to  live."  Always  there  must  be  the 
yielding  of  life  in  the  community  service,  but  the  risk 
must  be  made  as  equal  as  possible  or  we  must  cease  to 
profess  a  belief  in  loving  our  neighbors  as  ourselves. 
Will  not  the  spirit  of  home  missions,  which  is  desirous 
of  sharing  the  house  of  God  with  the  toilers,  also  be 
eager  to  give  them  their  due  share  in  the  house  of  life? 

The  New  Conscience.  Behind  the  measures  de- 
veloped in  recent  years  to  protect  the  lives  of  the  in- 
dustrial workers  is  a  new  sense  of  the  dignity  and  worth 
of  human  life.  It  came  from  the  gospels,  and  it  has 
changed  the  status  of  the  worker.  Formerly  he  was  a 
slave ;  then  he  was  a  serf ;  now  he  is  a  citizen. 

"Why  didn't  you  let  the  swine  drown  ?"  said  one  gen- 
eral concerning  thousands  of  common  soldiers  of  the 
enemy  who  were  trapped  by  an  inundation  plan. 

"We  needed  their  boots,"  was  the  reply  of  the  other 
general. 

That  was  the  old  pagan  view  of  a  superior  social 
group.  In  a  recent  mining  disaster  the  management 
declared  it  would  go  to  any  expense  and  any  risk  to 
save  the  life  of  one  worker.  That  was  an  expression 
of  the  Christian  principle  of  reverence  for  personality. 
Working  as  leaven,  that  principle  will  make  further 
changes  in  the  industrial  world. 


The  air  lock  above  one  of  the  caissons  used  in  making  the 
extremely  deep  excavations  that  are  necessary  in  building  bridges, 
under-water  tunnels,  subways  and  skyscrapers. 

A  disease  called  "The  Bends"  has  been  a  menace  to  the 
health  of  those  who  work  in  the  caissons.  Paralysis  and  death 
have  not  been  uncommon. 

The  caissons  are  weighted  and  sunk  into  the  earth  and  con- 
tinually built  up  at  the  top  as  the  structure  gradually  sinks  to 
the  bottom.  They  are  fitted  up  with  a  shaft  through  which 
excavated  material  is  removed  and  for  the  descent  of  the  work- 
man. There  is  also  an  exliaust  pipe  for  pumping  out  water,  a- 
series  of  pipes  for  supplying  compressed  air,  electric  light  wires 
and  a  signaling  system. 

When  the  workman  enters  the  air  lock  the  air  pressure  is 
slowly  increased  until  it  equals  the  pressure  in  the  caisson.  As 
he  descends  the  blood  receives  an  increase  of  oxygen  and  nitro- 
gen. The  gases  absorbed  are  gradually  distributed  to  the  fluids 
of  the  various  tissues.  If  the  workman  is  returned  too  rapidly 
to  normal  atmospheric  pressure  the  nitrogen  gas  bubbles  off  in 
the  blood  and  blocks  up  the  capillaries,  and  by  cutting  off  the 
blood  supply  in  one  or  another  part  of  the  body,  causes  air 
illness.  The  nervous  system  suffers  proportionately  the  most  and 
the  spinal  column  is  affected,  hence  the  common  name  "The 
Bends!1 

Courtesy   of   American   Association   of   Labor  Legislation, 


THE  RIGHT  TO  LIVE  25 

The  Right  to  Work.  The  conscience  that  insists 
on  protecting  the  life  of  the  toiler  from  sudden  de- 
struction will  also  protect  it  from  slow  extinction. 
He  cannot  live  unless  he  can  work.  He  must  be  able 
to  get  bread  for  himself  and  his  family.  This  is  no 
longer  an  individual  problem-  as  in  pioneer  days  when 
it  -depended  on  a  man's  industry  and  energy.  Now  it 
depends  on  the  will  of  others,  on  great  social  forces, 
which  only  the  community  can  control.  During  most 
winters  men  may  be  found  at  the  gates  of  our  great 
industries  fighting  for  the  chance  to  work.  They  have 
been  known  to  tear  the  coats  off  each  other's  backs, 
and  even  to  trample  a  man  underfoot  and  break  his 
leg  in  the  fierce  struggle  of  the  crowd  to  get  first  to 
the  few  jobs  that  were  offered.  This  is  an  expression 
of  the  desire  to  live.  What  has  religion  to  do  with  it? 
What  does  it  mean  that  Jesus  gave  the  crowd  both 
loaves  and  fishes  and  the  bread  of  life? 

A  Spiritual  Necessity.  The  consequence  of  pro- 
longed unemployment  is  physical,  moral,  and  spiritual 
degeneration.  The  man  who  cannot  get  work  is  apt 
to  find  the  saloon  more  attractive  than  the  boarding- 
house  or  the  home.  His  will,  like  his  muscle,  becomes 
flabby.  He  loses  courage,  energy,  independence,  and 
soon  he  eats  in  contentment  the  bread  of  idleness. 
The  discipline  of  work  is  one  of  the  valuable  stimuli 
for  the  development  of  the  higher  qualities  of  life.  To 
deny  men  this  is  waste,  not  only  of  economic 
power,  but  also  of  the  spiritual  forces  of  the  com- 
munity. It  is  a  reckless  throwing  away  of  the  divine 
energy  imparted  to  all  human  life. 

Another  Extra  Hazard.    The  risk  of  unemployment 


26          THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

is  another  extra  hazard  to  which  the  worker  is  sub- 
jected.   This  risk  has  largely  disappeared  during  the 
war,  owing  to  its  industrial  demands,  though  even 
now  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Labor  reports  un- 
employment in  some  centers.     But  the  close  of  the 
war  will  disarrange  industry  and  will  bring  back  an 
army  for  employment,  many  of  whose  jobs  are  now 
being    filled    by    women.      The    further    down    the 
scale  of  employment,  the  less  secure  is  a  man's  grip 
upon  his  job.    The  more  he  needs  continuous  work 
because  of  the  smallness  of  his  wage,  the  less  likely  he 
is  to  get  it.    The  unskilled  industries  are  the  seasonal 
industries  that  constantly  shut  down.    Salaried  posi- 
tions are  more  or  less  secure  and  often  continuous  for 
life,  but  wage-earning  gets  very  precarious  after  the 
age  of  forty-five,  when  a  man  can  no  longer  keep 
up  with  the  efficiency  pace.     The  Manly  report1  to 
the  United  States  Commission  on  Industrial  Relations 
declares  that  wage-earners  lose  from  one  fourth  to  one 
fi£th  of  their  working  time  during  the  year,  and  that 
the  greatest  amount  of  this  time  is  lost  by  the  poorest- 
paid  workers,  both   because  they  are  unskilled  and 
because  they  are  weakened  by  poor  nourishment  and 
bad  living  and  working  conditions.    One  fourth  of  the 
time  lost  is  due  to  sickness,  two  thirds  is  due  to  lack 
of  work  or  inability  to  find  it,  two  per  cent,  of  the 
idleness  is  due  to  strikes,  two  per  cent,  to  accidents. 

Those  Who  Can't  or  Won't  Work.  The  report 
points  out  that  there  is  a  group  who  are  permanently 
unemployable.  They  are  the  people  who  have  dropped 
out  of  the  ranks  of  industry,  broken  down  by  the 

1See  final  report  of  the  Commission,  Washington,  1915. 


THE  RIGHT  TO  LIVE  27 

unsteadiness  of  employment  and  by  other  causes.  Some 
are  mentally  defective  or  physically  incapable,  others 
are  down  and  out  or  have  lost  the  habit  of  working, 
others  live  by  their  wits,  by  begging,  or  by  crime. 
Even  during  the  most  prosperous  times,  when  labor  is 
in  great  demand,  these  people  do  not  work.  They  are 
unemployable  in  the  same  sense  that  children,  the  old, 
the  sick,  and  those  who  live  on  income  from  invest- 
ments are  unemployable.  No  amount  of  work  pro- 
vided by  public  or  private  forces  would  have  any  ap- 
preciable effect  upon  these.  They  need  the  hospital  or 
corrective  treatment. 

A  Question  of  Justice.  The  conclusion  of  the  report 
is  that  the  burden  of  unemployment  is  practically 
borne  by  labor,  which,  in  the  main,  wants  to  work  but 
cannot.  Capital  is  not  subject  to  the  same  risk  because 
a  fair  return  of  investment  is  usually  figured  by  the 
year,  so  that  the  dull  seasons  and  the  busy  seasons 
modify  each  other,  while  labor  is  obliged  to  maintain 
itself  as  a  reserve  force  during  the  periods  of  unem- 
ployment. Here  is  yet  another  challenge  to  those  who 
are  organized  to  spread  a  gospel  which  declares  that 
the  strong  should  bear  the  burdens  of  the  weak. 

Unemployment  and  Sickness.  Tom  Rowe  is  a  man 
of  foreign  birth,  sixty-two  years  of  age.  He  has  lived 
here  for  many  years  and  worked  as  a  longshoreman. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  union.  His  work  is  uncertain 
at  the  best,  and  it  becomes  increasingly  irregular  with 
his  advancing  years.  Six  years  ago  he  contracted 
pneumonia.  He  suffers  now  from  chronic  asthma.  He 
is  no  longer  fitted  for  such  heavy  work.  Because  he 
is  neither  equipped  nor  willing  to  do  anything  else. 


28       ,  THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

his  working  life  is  practically  at  an  end,  with  no  pro- 
vision for  the  future.  Tow  Rowe's  situation  shows 
the  close  connection  between  unemployment  and  sick- 
ness. The  United  States  Health  Service  finds  that 
irregular  employment  has  a  very  detrimental  effect 
upon  health.  When  the  income  of  the  worker  is  un- 
certain, physical  efficiency  is  impaired,  both  in  himself 
and  in  his  family.  It  leads  to  worry  and  periodic  over- 
driving. It  means  conditional  and  irregular  nourish- 
ment. Of  7,000  applicants  of  the  casual  labor  class 
at  the  San  Francisco  cooperative  employment  bureau 
one  half  of  the  total  number  had  been  incapacitated 
for  work  by  poor  nutrition,  exposure,  and  disease. 
The  Bureau  concludes  that  irregularity  of  employ- 
ment becomes  a  health  problem.  The  industrial  work- 
er's extra  risk  of  unemployment  and  of  disease  must 
be  considered  together.  They  both  lessen  his  chance 
for  life.  They  make  a  vicious  circle  which  must  be  cut 
by  recognizing  and  providing  both  the  right  to  work 
and  the  right  to  live. 

The  Inefficient.  In  a  Western  state,  out  of  a  group 
of  American-born  men  seeking  work  at  a  public  insti- 
tution during  one  winter — men  who,  as  the  superin- 
tendent expressed  it,  were  "just  beginning  to  learn 
that  they  could  beat  the  game" — 86  per  cent,  had  never 
gone  beyond  the  fourth  grade  in  education.  Of  417 
cases  studied  in  Boston,  lack  of  training  was  most 
characteristic  of  the  men.  Few  had  completed  the 
grammar  school,  fewer  still  the  high  school.  The  ma- 
jority were  either  physically  handicapped  or  of  low 
mentality.  With  little  or  no  education  and  small  earn- 
ing power  such  men  live  all  the  time  on  the  border- 


THE  RIGHT  TO  LIVE  29 

line  of  unemployment.  Here  is  John  Doe,  of  native 
birth,  thirty  years  of  age.  He  left  the  school  while 
in  the  grammar  grades.  He  was  not  well  equipped 
for  life  nor  particularly  intelligent.  Without  any  spe- 
cial fitness  for  any  task,  he  became  one  of  an  army 
who,  when  asked  to  designate  occupations,  say  "La- 
borer." He  drifted  from  one  job  to  another,  mean- 
while acquiring  a  taste  for  drink,  which  made  him  less 
efficient.  Shortly  before  the  war  he  secured  employ- 
ment as  a  teamster.  The  sudden  cessation  of  shipping 
threw  him  out  of  work.  As  he  had  made  but  twelve 
dollars  a  week,  he  soon  needed  help.  There  are  many 
John  Doe's.  The  churches  constantly  assist  in  provid- 
ing relief  for  these  men  and  their  families.  They  are 
thereby  brought  face  to  face  with  the  deeper  question 
of  their  unemployment. 

Preventing  Unemployment.  Of  61  union  men  out  of 
417  who  came  for  help  during  a  winter  of  unemploy- 
ment in  Boston,  none  came  from  the  cigar-makers' 
union,  which  in  addition  to  regular  out-of-work  bene- 
fits paid  a  local  assessment  of  $12.50  on  each  member. 
This  constituted  the  most  striking  experience  of  the 
winter  in  Boston.  Much  could  be  learned  from  it 
about  unemployment  insurance.  Provision  against  un- 
employment was  the  obligation  of  some  of  the  earlier 
Christian  groups.  It  is  still  the  obligation  of  the  union 
and  the  fraternal  order.  In  many  cases  the  church  is 
finding  jobs  for  the  men  who  belong  to  the  Bible  class 
or  the  men's  club.  During  the  strenuous  winter  of 
1914-15,  56  cities  reported  a  total  expense  of  $3,600,000 
for  public  works  for  the  unemployed.  These  experi- 
ments were  mostly  successful.  The  greatest  obstacle 


30          THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

to  their  complete  success  was  the  failure  to  make  plans 
before  the  emergency  was  at  hand.  But  the  result  of 
that  winter  of  distress  was  that  the  public  came  openly 
and  consciously  to  accept  as  the  first  step  in  the  solu- 
tion of  the  problem  the  establishment  of  a  nation-wide 
system  of  public  employment  exchanges.  This  means 
such  an  exchange  in  every  state  and  in  the  leading 
cities,  cooperating  with  the  federal  department  of 
labor.  The  churches  can  aid  the  demand  and  eiffort  for 
these  exchanges.  The  final  solution,  however,  rests 
with  the  managers  of  American  industry.  Judge  Gary 
declared  that  the  unemployment  of  1914-15  was  evi- 
dence of  failure  on  the  part  of  American  industrial 
management.  Industries  can  be  regulated  so  that  un- 
employment is  reduced  to  a  minimum.  If  organized 
Christianity  can  lead  the  American  people  to  recognize 
the  sacredness  of  human  life  and  its  right  to  live  and 
work  as  the  Hebrew  people  recognized  it,  by  providing 
the  proper  training  for  every  child  and  the  opportunity 
for  every  youth  to  take  part  in  productive  labor,  will 
it  not  acquire  new  power  in  the  nation?  In  modern 
war  the  whole  economic  life  of  the  nation  is  mobilized. 
Everybody  is  put  to  work.  Why  should  not  this  be 
the  habit  of  the  nation  in  time  of  peace? 

War  on  the  Unborn.  The  effect  of  occupational 
disease  and  unemployment  upon  the  worker  are  not 
confined  to  one  generation  alone.  Lead-poisoning  is 
a  race  poisoning.  It  has  power  to  impair  the  germ  of 
life  for  the  next  generation.  Unto  the  third  and  fourth 
generations  are  the  consequences  of  our  industrial  and 
social  sins  passed  on.  Infant  mortality  is  highest  in 
the  great  industrial  cities  and  in  the  sections  of  these 


THE  RIGHT  TO  LIVE  31 

cities  where  the  industrial  workers  live.  The  right  to 
live  is  being  taken  away  from  the  next  generation. 
Many  of  the  children  born  of  parents  who  have  suf- 
fered from  industrial  disease  and  from  the  poverty  of 
unemployment  will  get  the  right  to  only  the  fraction 
of  a  life.  Their  vitality  will  suffer  permanently  from 
the  same  conditions  which  have  depleted  that  of  their 
parents.  What  obligation  does  this  place  upon  those 
who  would  spread  the  teaching  of  him  who  said,  "Suf- 
fer the  little  children,  and  forbid  them  not,  to  come 
unto  me"? 

A  Practical  Religion.  The  religion  which  would 
comfort  the  worker  when  dying  must  also  protect  him 
from  death.  The  preaching  which  proclaims  the  value 
of  the  soul  must  also  seek  to  realize  that  value  in  life. 
The  employer  who  is  willing  to  recognize  the  worker 
as  an  immortal  spirit  within  the  walls  of  the  church 
must  also  treat  him  as  such  in  the  place  of  employ- 
ment. The  prophet  saw  that  God  had  compassion 
especially  for  all  the  little  children  of  Nineveh,  and 
even  for  the  dumb  beasts.  The  compassion  of  God 
must  be  expressed  to-day  in  protective  legislation  for 
the  wage-earner.  The  first  step  in  Christianizing  in- 
dustry is  to  make  safe  the  life  of  the  worker  so  that, 
as  the  ancient  prophetic  vision  declares,  he  shall  be 
unhurt  and  unafraid.  The  religion  which  leads  the 
community  to  respect  the  life  of  the  worker  will  clearly 
gain  new  power  for  its  appeal  to  him  to  respect  his 
own  personality. 


Safety  devices  on  grinding  wheel  manufactured  by  the  Nor- 
ton Company  for  the  National  Tube  Company.  The  safety 
features  are  a  proper  tool  rest,  an  eye  shield  to  prevent  the  flying 
metal  dust  from  entering  the  eyes,  a  standard  hood  with  protec- 
tive arbor  end,  an  exhaust  system  for  drawing  the  dust  away, 
and  shields  enclosing  the  transmission  belt.  These  comprise 
preventive  measures  against  disease  and  accident. 


II 

THE  DAY'S  WORK 


Aim:  To  show  the  relation  of  the  shorter  work-day 
to  the  development  of  the  spiritual  life,  in  order  that  ef- 
forts to  secure  that  day  may  be  recognized  as  a  fitting 
missionary  endeavor. 


II 

THE  DAY'S  WORK 


The  Task  and  the  Song.  Some  of  the  oldest  songs 
in  the  world  are  songs  of  toil.  Many  of  the  ancient 
folk-songs  express  the  joy  and  fellowship  which  the 
workers  of  the  past  found  in  their  common  labor. 
The  workingman  of  other  days  was  also  the  singing 
man,  and  the  rhythmic  record  of  his  toil  is  in  the 
swing  of  "harvest  home"  songs,  in  the  haunting,  mov- 
ing music  of  plantation  melodies  and  of  the  "deep-sea 
chanteys"  to  which  forgotten  sailors  heaved  the  net  or 
raised  the  anchor  or  hauled  the  sheet.  Wherever  men 
have  worked  together  they  have  learned  to  sing  to- 
gether. In  one  of  our  recent  labor  conflicts  a  signifi- 
cant incident  occurred  daily.  When  the  peasant  wo- 
men of  many  nations  gathered  together  to  peel  the 
potatoes  for  the  common  meal  of  the  strikers 
they  sang  in  many  tongues  not  one  of  the  ancient 
songs  of  toil,  but  one  of  the  great  hymns  of  the  mod- 
ern labor  movement  voicing  its  faith  in  the  coming"  of  a 
day  when  the  workers  should  all  be  brothers.  This 
ancient  relationship  between  the  work  and  the  song 
expresses  not  alone  the  actual  fellowship  of  toil,  but 
also  the  dignity  and  the  value  of  a  worthy  task. 

The  Old  and  the  New.  A  recent  poern  describes 
Jesus  looking  in  vain  through  the  modern  working 
world  for  the  ancient  singing  man.  The  Russian  har- 
vesters used  to  sing  as  they  brought  home  the  grain: 

35 


36          THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

Open,  O  master,  the  new  gates, 

We  may  bring  a  crown  of  pure  gold, 

O  ransom,  ransom  the  crown  of  gold, 
For  the  crown  of  gold  is  woven. 

A  modern  Jewish  garment  worker  of  Russian  origin 
cries : 

"The  machines  in  the  shop  roar  so  wildly  that  often  I 
forget  in  the  roar  that  I  am;  I  am  lost  in  the  terrible  tumult, 
my  ego  disappears,  I  am  a  machine — there  are  no  feelings,  no 
thoughts,  no  reason;  the  bitter,  bloody  work  kills  the  noblest, 
the  most  beautiful  and  best,  the  richest,  the  deepest,  the  highest, 
which  life  possesses/' 

At  their  trade  on  the  sea  the  English  fishermen  for 
centuries  have  sung: 

Watch  barrel !    Watch  mackerel  for  to  ketch ! 
White  may  they  be  like  a  blossom  on  a  tree; 
God  sends  thousands,  one,  two,  three. 

The  workers  in  ancient  English  orchards,  watching 
the  bees,  would  sing: 

Bees,  oh  bees  of  Paradise 
Does  the  work  of  Jesns  Christ, 
Does  the  work  that  no  man  can. 
God  made  man  and  man  made  money; 
God  made  bees  and  bees  made  honey. 

A  modern  English  unskilled  worker  thus  describes 
the  lot  of  his  kind : 

One  with  the  work  he  cleaves  apart, 
One  with  the  weary  pick  he  wields — 
Bowed  with  his  weight  of  discontent 
Beneath  the  heavens'  sagging  gray, 
His  steaming  shoulders  stark  and  bent, 
He  drags  his  joyless  years  away. 

The  Songless  Armies.  Who  sings  to-day  at  his 
work?  Not  those  who  toil  amid  the  rush  and  roar 
of  engines,  or  the  whir  and  clatter  of  looms;  not 


THE  DAY'S  WORK  37 

those  who  must  speed  every  faculty  to  keep  up  with 
the  machines,  and  spur  every  sense  to  guard  against 
their  dangers;  not  those  who  must  turn  out  the 
greatest  possible  amount  of  work  in  the  smallest  pos- 
sible amount  of  time  or  else  lose  the  opportunity  to 
earn  a  living;  not  those  who  work  underground  in 
darkness,  nor  those  who  toil  at  night  while  others 
sleep.  No  song  comes  from  those  steel-workers  who 
toil  twelve  hours  a  day  and  seven  days  a  week,  nor 
from  the  longshoremen  whose  average  time  on  duty 
is  two  days  and  one  night.  The  women  workers  of  491 
stores  investigated  who  "complained  that  it  took  them 
so  long  to  make  a  living  that  they  had  no  time  left 
in  which  to  live"  do  not  sing ;  nor  do  those  waitresses 
for  whom  every  day  means  up  at  six,  away  at  six- 
thirty,  home  at  eight  at  night,  worn  with  twelve  hours 
of  toil,  and  as  one  of  them  put  it,  "with  sore  feet  and 
a  devilish  mean  disposition";  nor  does  that  fourteen- 
year-old  boy  in  an  Illinois  town  who  worked  eighty- 
five  hours  in  a  drug-store  in  one  week ;  nor  that  fifteen- 
year-old  learner  in  another  drug-store  in  the  same  town 
who  worked  seventy  hours  a  week  regularly  in  a  state 
that  forbids  the  employment  of  children  under  sixteen 
years  of  age  for  more  than  eight  hours  a  day  or  at 
night. 

What  Stops  the  Song?  Yet  these  workers  would 
sing  if  they  could,  for  life  ever  breaks  into  music. 
Youth  still  goes  to  its  task  with  laughter  and  a  song ; 
but  the  speed  and  strain  of  modern  industry  soon 
choke  and  stifle  the  song.  In  any  of  our  cities  watch 
the  armies  of  youth  marching  to  work  in  the  morning 
with  smile  and  joke;  then  watch  them  as  they  leave 


38          THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

the  factories,  the  offices,  the  stores,  at  night.  They 
have  not  the  same  spirit  with  which  they  marched 
in  the  morning.  There  is  a  different  tone  to  their 
laughter.  Then  next  morning  watch  the  older  indus- 
trial workers,  and  see  how  the  habit  of  silence  has 
been  fixed  upon  their  lives.  In  one  of  our  great  cities 
there  is  a  street  called  "dinner-pail  avenue"  because 
of  the  numbers  of  workers  who  pass  daily  along  upon 
it.  For  the  most  part  it  is  crowded  with  a  silent, 
songless,  almost  sullen  throng.  They  look  like  con- 
script armies,  forced  to  toil  because  they  must,  but 
rinding  neither  laughter  nor  joy  in  their  toiling.  Evi- 
dently they  have  been  used  up  in  the  making  of  goods, 
not  in  the  making  of  life.  Their  silence  is  the  sign  of 
fatigue. 

What  Is  Fatigue?  One  of  the  romances  of  modern 
medical  science  and  legal  investigation  is  the  record  of 
the  recent  studies  of  the  nature  and  causes  of  fatigue, 
and  the  application  of  the  knowledge  gained  by  these 
investigations  in  lifting  the  burdens  of  fatigue  from 
overtired  workers.  Public  health  specialists  now  talk 
about  "the  toxin  of  fatigue/'  They  declare  that  "the 
overtired  person  is  literally  a  poisoned  person,  poi- 
soned by  his  own  waste  products."  To  be  tired  from 
hard  work  in  healthful  surroundings  is  a  normal  and 
beneficial  condition.  To  be  in  a  state  of  excessive 
fatigue  or  exhaustion  is  abnormal  and  dangerous.  In 
this  condition  the  body  fails  to  get  rid  of  its  own 
waste  products;  these  poisonous  impurities  that  con- 
stantly arise  in  the  chemical  processes  circulate  in  the 
blood,  the  brain,  the  nervous  system,  the  muscles,  the 
glands.  Normally  they  are  burned  up  by  the  oxygen 


THE  DAY'S  WORK  39 

brought  by  the  blood,  or  they  are  removed  by  the 
liver,  the  kidneys,  or  the  lungs.  If,  however,  work  is 
carried  beyond  the  point  of  fatigue,  the  system  fails  to 
eliminate  these  waste  products.  They  remain  to  impair 
the  health  and  perhaps  to  cause  death.  They  make 
so  slight  an  ailment  as  a  cold  dangerous  to  life.  An- 
other danger  of  fatigue  is  that  the  body  is  then  unable 
to  work  by  the  power  generated  from  its  own  stored- 
up  substances.  It  must  call  upon  its  nervous  energy, 
and  this  oftentimes  leads  to  breakdown. 

A  National  Peril.  Some  years  ago  the  Committee 
of  One  Hundred  on  National  Vitality,  whose  report 
is  now  a  Senate  document,  declared  that  the  chief 
cause  of  preventable  sickness  and  death  in  the  United 
States  was  that  the  majority  of  the  population  is  con- 
tinually in  a  state  of  overfatigue.  The  brief  present- 
ing the  case  for  the  shorter  work-day  to  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States,  in  defense  of  the  Oregon 
ten-hour  law,  points  out  that  the  outstanding  fact  in 
our  health  situation  in  the  United  States  is  the  ex- 
traordinary increase  in  the  so-called  degenerative  dis- 
eases, that  is,  diseases  of  the  heart,  blood-vessels,  and 
kidneys.  We  have  checked  tuberculosis  and  typhoid 
fever,  we  have  decreased  infant  mortality  and  lowered 
the  death-rate  for  children ;  but  the  mortality  from  the 
degenerative  diseases  shows  a  steady  and  marked  rise. 
In  this  breakdown  of  the  most  important  organs  of  the 
body  is  the  greatest  menace  to  American  vitality. 
Having  considered  all  the  available  medical  testimony, 
the  brief  concludes  that  while  the  reason  is  still  in 
part  obscure,  it  is  clear  that  one  important  contribut- 
ing factor  is  the  stress  and  strain  of  American  ways  of 


"The  death  rate  is  high  among  children  of  women  who  have 
overworked  in  girlhood" 


Underwood  and    Underwood. 


THE  DAY'S  WORK  41 

living  and  working.  "Statistics  prove  that  these  dis- 
eases reduce  the  working  productive  period  of  life,  the 
period  of  greatest  industrial  activity.  They  are  thus 
peculiarly  disastrous  for  industrial  workers  already 
subject  to  higher  incidence  of  disease  than  other 
classes  of  society." 

A  General  Condition.  Fatigue  and  its  consequences 
may  be  found  in  all  sections  of  society.  It  is  evident 
in  the  tired  business  men  of  the  suburbs  as  well  as  in 
the  exhausted  workers  of  the  factory  or  mill  districts. 
In  1898  the  Supreme  Court  sustained  state  legislation 
providing  an  eight-hour  day  for  miners  because  of  the 
evidence  that  long  hours  of  labor  in  mines  meant  the 
poisoning  of  the  human  system,  with  consequent  great 
evil  to  the  general  welfare.  This  was  then  an  appar- 
ently specific  exceptional  instance;  but  "it  is  now 
demonstrable  that  the  considerations  which  were  on 
the  surface  as  to  miners  in  1898  are  to-day  operative 
to  a  greater  or  less  degree  throughout  the  industrial 
system."  It  is  the  pace  of  American  business,  the 
watchword  of  which  is  "hustle."  This  is  due  partly 
to  the  stimulating  effect  of  our  climate,  but  mostly 
to  false  ideals  of  life.  We  assume  that  life  is  for 
work.  We  have  not  found  out  that  work  is  for  life. 
As  far  back  as  1885  Henry  George  thus  described 
this  attitude :  "Here  is  a  man  working  hour  after  hour, 
day  after  day,  week  after  week,  in  doing  one  thing 
over  and  over  again,  and  for  what?  Just  to  live.  He 
is  working  ten  hours  a  day  in  order  that  he  may  sleep 
eight,  and  may  have  two  or  three  hours  for  himself 
when  he  is  tired  out  and  all  his  faculties  are  exhausted. 
That  is  not  a  reasonable  life ;  that  is  not  a  life  for  a 


42          THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

being  possessed  of  the  powers  that  are  in  a  man,  and  I 
think  every  man  must  have  felt  it  for  himself.  I  know 
that  when  I  first  went  to  my  trade  I  thought  to  my- 
self that  it  was  incredible  that  a  man  was  created  to 
work  all  day  long  just  to  live/'  We  scorn  those 
peoples  of  warmer  climates  whose  cry  is  "Manana" 
— put  it  off  until  to-morrow;  but  we  fail  to  see  the 
folly  of  the  opposite  extreme,  of  developing  condi- 
tions of  work  that  drive  the  people  to  death.  Whose 
duty  is  it  to  warn  the  nation  against  the  consequences 
of  fatigue  and  the  perils  of  a  low  ideal  of  life?  Is 
not  this  task  a  part  of  the  home  mission  program 
whose  goal  is  "to  make  America  Christian"? 

Fatigue  and  Health.  The  United  States  Supreme 
Court  has  recently  been  sustaining  short-hour  legisla- 
tion because  of  the  evidence  presented  to  it  concern- 
ing the  effect  of  fatigue  upon  national  vitality.  This 
evidence  has  gathered  the  experience  of  the  whole 
world.  The  united  judgment  of  all  who  have  studied 
the  question  in  all  industrial  countries  is  that  fatigue 
is  the  chief  source  of  disease.  It  lowers  the  resistance 
power  of  the  body;  and  health  depends  not  so  much 
upon  freedom  from  exposure  as  upon  ability  to  resist 
the  attack  of  disease.  In  the  dangerous  trades  it  is  the 
workers  who  are  overfatigued  who  more  readily  suc- 
cumb to  occupational  diseases.  In  the  less  dangerous 
trades  the  common  phenomena  of  fatigue  and  exhaus- 
tion create  a  permanent  predisposition  to  disease  and 
premature  death.  The  statistics  of  all  countries  which 
have  recorded  the  hours  in  which  industrial  accidents 
occur  show  that  the  number  tends  to  rise  after  a  cer- 
tain number  of  hours  of  work.  "The  number  of  acci- 


THE  DAY'S  WORK  43 

dents  is  usually  the  highest  during  the  penultimate 
hour  of  work  when  muscular  control  and  attention  are 
at  their  lowest."  Because  health  is  one  of  the  founda- 
tions of  the  state,  because  the  loss  of  human  life  and 
the  increase  of  disease  by  excessive  working  hours  is  a 
serious  factor  in  depleting  the  general  prosperity  of 
the  nation,  the  modern  industrial  nations  are  moving 
against  overwork  and  are  checking  fatigue  by  law. 
Driven  by  the  need  for  shells  on  the  firing-line,  Great 
Britain  speeded  up  its  munition  industries,  suspended 
labor  regulations,  and  introduced  the  seven-day  week 
and  the  long-hour  day.  But  recently  a  government 
committee  on  the  health  of  munition  workers,  after 
investigating  the  situation,  secured  the  cessation  of 
seven-day  work,  the  restoration  of  the  short  day,  and 
frequent  rest  periods.  The  first  and  conclusive  reason 
for  the  change  was  that  overtime  work  resulted  in  ex- 
haustion and  sickness  and  so  in  a  decrease  of  produc- 
tion. An  immediate  increase  of  production  justified 
this  diagnosis. 

The  Third  and  Fourth  Generations.  The  sins  of 
the  fathers  who  permit  excessive  labor  are  visited  upon 
the  children  unto  many  generations.  From  a  na- 
tional standpoint  the  most  deadly  consequence  of  fa- 
tigue is  its  exhaustion  of  the  capacity  for  strong  moth- 
erhood. Summing  up  the  experience  and  testimony  of 
England  and  Germany,  the  Massachusetts  Committee 
on  the  Labor  Question  declares  that  "if  the  common- 
wealth has  interest  in  securing  a  healthy  and  intelli- 
gent posterity,"  it  must  check  the  hours  of  labor  for 
females  and  children  in  the  mills.  The  progressive 
deterioration  of  succeeding  generations  of  factory 


44          THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

workers  is  shown  by  their  inability  to  pass  the  enlist- 
ment tests  both  in  England  and  here.  England  had  to 
reject  more  men  in  the  Boer  war  than  in  the  Crimean 
war.  Switzerland  found  fit  only  26  per  cent,  of  nail- 
makers,  and  21  per  cent,  of  buckle  workers.  Over- 
work before  marriage  has  a  disastrous  effect  upon  the 
next  generation.  A  study  of  172,365  Italian  working 
women  between  the  ages  of  15  and  54,  employed  in 
industrial  occupations,  showed  an  average  child-bear- 
ing of  only  about  one  third  of  the  fertility  of  all  Italian 
women.  Moreover,  the  record  shows  that  the  children 
of  exhausted  workers  are  below  the  normal  in  size 
and  weight.  "The  death-rate  is  high  among  children 
of  women  who  have  overworked  during  girlhood,  as 
well  as  among  children  of  working  mothers."  The 
high  infant  mortality  of  the  factory  population  is 
proved  by  investigations  in  this  country  and  abroad. 
In  the  British  textile  trade  the  women  are  protected 
by  a  ten-hour  day  and  a  fifty-five-and-one-half-hour 
week;  yet  the  average  infant  mortality  (1896  to 
1905)  in  textile  towns  was  182  per  1,000  infants,  and 
it  went  as  high  as  208 ;  while  in  non-textile  towns  the 
average  infant  mortality  was  150  per  1,000.  After  one 
English  town  became  a  mill  town,  the  infant  death- 
rate  rose  from  143  to  229,  and  the  birth-rate  fell  from 
39  to  27  per  1,000.  In  the  mill  towns  of  the  United 
States,  with  no  such  protection  of  women  from  fatigue 
as  England  provides,  a  still  higher  infant  mortality 
is  found.  In  1910  a  comparison  of  certain  selected 
cities  with  typical  New  England  mill  towns  shows  a 
death-rate  of  infants  under  one  year  per  100  deaths 
at  all  ages  as  follows: 


THE  DAY'S  WORK  45 

Chicago 21  Biddeford    27 

Boston 19  Lowell  29 

New  York 21  Lawrence  35 

Holyoke  .35 

Says  an  American  physician,  "So  long  as  mothers 
v/ork  in  factories,  so  long  will  babes  go  to  their 
graves."  A  young  textile  worker,  describing  the 
nerves  of  the  mill  girls  working  for  ten  hours  in  one 
of  our  states,  said,  "If  we  do  not  get  shorter  hours 
for  the  young  girls  soon,  there  will  not  be  much  left 
to  save." 

Breaking  Down  the  Home.  What  home  life  is  there 
for  a  man  who  works  twelve  hours  a  day  or  for  a 
man  who  comes  home  after  ten  hours'  work  utterly 
and  completely  exhausted?  Says  a  German  econo- 
mist,— and  they  are  not  sentimentalists, — "Such  a  man 
is  deprived  of  the  benefit  of  the  first  school  of  morals, 
which  is  the  home."  Family  life,  the  foundation  of 
the  nation,  is  destroyed  by  overwork.  There  is  no 
time  nor  energy  to  care  properly  for  the  interests  of 
children.  The  home  becomes  a  mere  place  to  eat  and 
sleep.  The  agencies  which  the  community  provides 
to  strengthen  the  family  cannot  be  used  by  those 
whose  energies  are  exhausted  to  the  point  of  fatigue. 
The  public  libraries,  the  lectures,  the  recreation  cen- 
ters, make  but  an  inefficient  appeal  to  an  exhausted 
group.  If  the  church  and  the  community  would  save 
the  home,  they  must  look  to  the  hours  of  labor. 

Fatigue  and  Morals.  Just  as  fatigue  lowers  the  re- 
sistance power  of  the  body  to  disease,  so  does  it  lower 
the  resistance  power  of  the  will  to  evil.  It  breaks 
down  those  defenses  which  nature  has  provided  here, 


46          THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

as  in  the  physical  system.  Continual  excessive  labor 
results  generally  in  moral  degeneration.  In  the  over- 
worked groups  there  is  the  largest  consumption  of 
alcohol,  and  there,  too,  the  sex  instinct  is  coarsened, 
depraved,  and  brutalized.  The  greatest  whisky  drink- 
ers in  the  country  are  said  to  be  the  longshoremen 
who  work  day  after  day  in  the  grain  hatches  of  the 
wheat  steamers  in  a  thick,  rising  dust  with  sponges 
over  their  noses  to  protect  them  against  the  stream  of 
grain  that  sprays  off  their  paddles  fifteen  or  twenty 
feet  away  as  they  push  the  wheat  into  the  corners  of 
the  hatch.  The  Lackawanna  Steel  Company  has  been 
working  its  men  seven  days  a  week.  With  a  pop- 
ulation of  16,000,  the  town  of  Lackawanna  has 
from  138  to  162  saloons.  Nineteen  of  them  stand  op- 
posite the  gate  where  the  men  come  from  the  mill. 
"After  weeks  of  overstrain  without  a  day  of  rest,"  says 
the  pastor  of  the  only  English-speaking  church  there, 
*'it  is  natural  for  the  men  to  get  beastly  drunk.  They 
sometimes  go  straight  from  the  pay  window  to  the 
saloon  and  spend  all  their  wages  before  they  leave  it." 
John  Fitch,  writing  of  the  steel- workers,  says:  "The 
only  men  whom  I  found  in  a  state  of  intoxication  when 
I  looked  for  them  in  their  homes  were  blast-furnace 
men — men  who  had  been  working  for  months  with- 
out a  holiday  or  a  Sunday."  The  experience  of  the 
Juvenile  Protective  Association  of  Chicago  shows  that 
girls  who  are  overworked  during  the  day  drift  more 
easily  toward  wrong-doing  in  the  evening.  So  over- 
whelming, conclusive,  and  abundant  is  the  testimony 
from  England  and  Germany  and  from  this  country, 
concerning  the  relation  of  overwork  to  temperance  and 


THE  DAY'S  WORK  47 

to  morals,  that  the  English  economist  Hobson  de- 
clares that  drink  and  other  sensual  excesses  are  the 
normal  reaction  of  the  lowered  morale  that  comes 
from  fatigue.  He  therefore  declares  that  "fatigue 
ranks  as  a  main  determinant  of  the  character  of  the 
working  classes/'  How  then  shall  the  churches  lead 
the  toilers  into  a  higher  moral  life  without  dealing 
with  fatigue? 

Long  Hours  and  the  Church.  The  writer  once 
asked  a  twelve-hour,  seven-day  steel-worker  whether 
he  went  to  church.  "Let  me  tell  you,"  said  he,  "when 
I  was  a  kid  I  used  to  like  to  go  to  Sunday-school 
twice,  Methodist  in  the  morning,  Baptist  in  the  after- 
noon ;  but  since  I've  been  at  work  in  the  steel-mill  I 
haven't  been  to  church  for  so  long  I  wouldn't  know 
what  to  do  if  I  got  there."  A  study  of  the  religious 
activities  of  twelve-hour  communities  shows  that 
neither  the  authority  of  the  Roman  Church,  the  fer- 
vent appeal  of  the  evangelical  pulpit,  nor  the  many- 
sided  religious,  social,  and  recreational  activities  of 
the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  can  secure  any 
decided  response  from  the  apathetic,  jaded  workers. 
Those  who  are  eager  to  build  churches  and  get  the 
industrial  workers  to  come  to  them  must  find  a  prac- 
tical meaning  for  that  great  saying  of  the  Master, 
"Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden, 
and  I  will  give  you  rest,"  before  they  can  develop  its 
full  spiritual  content. 

What  About  Religion?  Professor  Steiner  says  that 
when  he  was  working  ten  hours  a  day  in  a  Pittsburgh 
steel-mill,  the  worst  result  was  the  Condition  of  apathy 
that  settled  upon  him.  "If  any  one  had  given  me  a 


48          THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

ticket  for  a  symphony  concert,  I  would  not  have  gone," 
he  declares.  Raymond  Robbins  says  that  when  he 
worked  twelve  hours  a  day  in  a  coal  mine,  the  only 
thing  he  wanted  to  do  with  his  evenings  was  to  spend 
them  in  the  saloon  with  the  boys  and  throw  two  or 
three  beers  under  his  belt  and  forget  that  he  was  a 
dog.  An  Indiana  preacher  recently  spent  his  vaca- 
tion working  in  a  steel-mill ;  he  says  the  prejudices  he 
had  entertained  against  the  United  States  Steel  Cor- 
poration were  somewhat  dissipated  by  his  experience. 
He  thought  the  wages  were  good  and  the  treatment 
considerate;  but  he  considered  the  long  hours  a  gen- 
uine complaint.  "While  some  have  an  eight-  or  ten- 
hour  day,  many  are  on  duty  twelve  hours  and,  with 
the  going  and  coming,  are  kept  from  home  fourteen 
hours  a  day.  With  time  deducted  for  sleep,  they  are 
left  with  two  hours  to  be  men,  to  cultivate  human 
interests,  to  make  love  to  wives  and  sweethearts,  to 
play  with  their  children,  to  learn  to  make  good  citi- 
zens, to  take  part  in  public  affairs,  and  to  know  some- 
thing of  the  foreign  interests  of  the  big  world  be- 
yond." With  these  interests  eliminated  from  life,  what 
has  religion  to  appeal  to?  On  what  basis  can  it  be 
developed  ? 

Who  Suffers?  The  two  groups  who  suffer  most 
from  fatigue  in  this  country  are  women  workers  and 
unskilled  immigrants.  The  latter  group  constitutes 
a  specific  field  of  home  missionary  endeavor.  One  of 
the  avowed  purposes  of  Christian  work  is  to  teach 
them  a  higher  use  of  the  rest-day  than  that  which  ob- 
tains on  the  continent  of  Europe.  Another  home  mis- 
sionary purpose  is  to  improve  the  home  life  of  these 


THE  DAY'S  WORK  49 

people.  But  what  is  American  seven-day  work  teach- 
ing them?  What  does  the  twelve-hour  day  do  to  the 
home?  Recently  in  Philadelphia  (February,  1917), 
2,000  unorganized  sugar  workers  struck.  They  were 
mostly  Poles  and  Lithuanians,  with  a  few  Russians, 
Germans,  and  Italians.  Only  a  few  were  able  to  talk 
English.  Their  first  demand  was  that  the  day  be  cut 
from  twelve  to  ten  hours.  The  company  pointed  out 
that  it  was  impossible  to  work  in  ten-hour  shifts.  It 
meant  leaving  the  sugar  in  the  vats  for  four  hours 
a  day.  They  were  unwilling  to  arrange  for  three 
eight-hour  shifts.  So  the  men  continued  to  work 
twelve  hours  a  day,  and  some  of  them  for  seven  days 
a  week. 

The  Seven-day  Week.  The  seven-day  working  week 
is  the  most  deadly  producer  of  fatigue.  It  is  forbid- 
den in  the  first  labor  legislation  on  record,  that  of  the 
ancient  Hebrew  law.  The  commandment  demands  a 
day  of  rest  for  all  the  workers,  including  even  the  for- 
eigner and  even  the  dumb  beast.  Yet  there  are  now 
close  to  a  million  men  in  the  United  States  working 
continuously  seven  days  a  week  the  year  round  unless 
they  take  a  day  off  at  their  own  expense  and  lose  a 
day's  pay  from  what  for  most  of  them  is  but  a  meager 
income,  insufficient  to  provide  properly  for  their  fam- 
ilies. This  work  is  being  done  mostly  in  the  con- 
tinuous industries — industries  like  the  blast-furnace 
section  of  the  steel  trade,  which  must  run  without 
cessation  to  be  profitable.  A  partial  list  of  continuous 
industries  includes  steam  and  electric  railroads,  ice 
and  milk  delivery,  telegraph  and  telephone,  news- 
papers, blast-furnaces,  paper-  and  pulp-mills,  heat, 


50          THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

light,  and  power  plants,  and  personal  service  in  hotels 
and  restaurants,  drug-stores,  and  barber-shops. 

Who  Is  Responsible?  If  a  blast-furnace  stops,  it 
takes  forty-eight  hours  to  start  it  up  again,  and  two 
days'  work  is  lost.  Because  a  blast-furnace  or  a  sugar 
factory  or  a  glass-house  must  be  run  continuously  is 
no  reason  why  human  beings  must  be  worked  contin- 
uously. It  is  not  necessity  but  the  desire  for  profit 
that  drives  here.  It  is  not  the  social  welfare  of  the 
community,  but  merely  the  urge  for  dividends.  When 
the  Lackawanna  Steel  Company  asked  for  exemption 
from  the  one-day's-rest-in-seven  law  in  New  York 
state  and  admitted  that  it  had  not  been  obeying  the 
law,  the  pastor  of  the  only  Protestant  church  of  Lack- 
awanna said  that  the  company  officials  were  asking 
for  something  they  did  not  believe  in,  for  they  had 
often  told  him  of  their  desire  for  a  six-day  week  and 
an  eight-hour  day.  He  could  only  conclude  that  they 
were  asking  this  because  they  were  obliged  to  do  so 
as  representatives  of  the  stockholders.  Some  of  the 
latter  were  supporters  of  the  benevolent  enterprises  of 
the  church.  They  knew  nothing  of  the  seven-day 
week.  What  agency  should  have  informed  them? 

Is  It  Necessary?  A  great  deal  of  continuous  work 
is  in  those  occupations  that  minister  to  the  public  ne- 
cessity, convenience,  and  comfort:  the  trains,  the  ho- 
tels, the  drug-stores,  the  newspapers,  the  telephone  ex- 
changes, the  telegraph  offices.  They  employ  a  huge 
army  of  seven-day  workers.  'Much  of  this  work  could 
be  reduced  if  the  public  would  modify  its  selfish  habits 
and  unreasonable  demands.  The  remainder,  that 
which  is  socially  necessary,  does  not  require  anybody 


THE  DAY'S  WORK  51 

to  work  seven  days  a  week.  It  is  simply  a  question 
of  an  extra  shift  of  workers.  It  means  higher  labor 
cost  and  less  profit.  But  this  is  infiniteJy  preferable 
to  the  degeneration  of  the  workers  by  continuous  toil. 
We  properly  protest  against  the  Continental  Sabbath, 
but  it  does  not  involve  all  the  social  consequences  of 
the  American  industrial  Sabbath.  Because  her  clear 
mind  saw  these  consequences,  France  long  ago  pro- 
tected both  her  workers  and  the  national  vitality  by 
passing  a  law  forbidding  more  than  six  days'  work  in 
any  week.  Some  of  our  American  states  have  recently 
been  concerned  with  the  passing  of  a  similar  law. 
This  movement  has  been  promoted  by  the  Federal 
Council  of  Churches  and  the  American  Association  for 
Labor  Legislation. 

The  Will  of  the  Workers.  When  the  International 
Paper  Company  petitioned  the  Industrial  Commission 
of  the  state  of  New  York  for  exemption  from  the  law 
which  requires  that  every  workingman  shall  be  given 
one  day's  rest  in  seven,  it  argued  that  the  men  pre- 
ferred to  work  continuously.  The  Federal  Council  of 
the  Churches  of  Christ  in  America,  was  represented 
by  the  Rev.  Charles  Stelzle.  He  argued  that  when  a 
man  actually  preferred  to  work  a  seven-day  week,  it 
was  either  because  his  wages  were  so  small  that  he 
thought  it  necessary  to  work  in  order  to  earn  a  "liv- 
ing wage,"  or  because  his  finer  sensibilities  had  be- 
come so  blunted  that  he  did  not  realize  the  harm  he 
was  doing  himself.  At  the  hearing  of  a  similar  peti- 
tion from  the  Lackawanna  Steel  Company,  the  pastor 
of  the  English-speaking  church  answered  the  state- 
ment of  the  company  that  the  men — unskilled  immi- 


52         THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

grant  workers — wanted  to  work  seven  days  a  week. 
He  said  that  a  great  many  of  them  were  feverishly 
working  and  hoarding  up  their  wages  in  order  to  go 
back  to  Europe  to  farm  in  comfort.  "These  men  will 
go  back  and  spread  abroad  the  tale  of  their  twelve- 
hour  day  and  seven-day  week,  but  I  am  enough  of  a 
patriot  to  rebel  against  that's  being  the  reputation  that 
America  is  to  build  for  herself  among  the  peoples  of 
Europe." 

Another  Kind  of  Home  Missions.  There  is  a 
further  question :  What  word  will  these  men  take  home 
about  American  Christianity?  A  business  man  stood 
day  after  day  on  the  deck  of  a  steamer  bound  for  Na- 
ples and  looked  down  at  the  returning  Italians  in  the 
steerage.  "What  are  you  thinking  of?"  asked  his 
friend-  "I  am  thinking,"  said  he,  "that  these  are  the 
real  missionaries  whom  we  are  sending  to  Italy.  What 
message  will  they  bear?" 

The  Long  Day.  While  the  continuous  week  is  the 
first  source  of  fatigue,  the  long  day  is  the  great  cause 
of  it  in  this  country.  The  census  of  1910  shows  that 
five  great  industries  among  others  in  this  country 
were  employing  men  seventy-two  hours  and  over  per 
week.  That  is  the  price  of  our  sugar  and  molasses,  of 
our  steam,  of  our  ice,  our  gas,  our  glucose  and  starch. 
For  proportions  running  from  57  to  95  per  cent,  of  all 
the  workers  engaged  in  the  production  of  these  com- 
modities, the  twelve-hour  day  obtained.  According  to 
the  same  census  there  were  thirteen  industries  em- 
ploying men  more  than  sixty  hours  a  week  in  propor- 
tions running  from  23  per  cent^  to  96  per  cent,  of  the 
workers.  That  is  the  price  we  pay  for  our  butter, 


THE  DAY'S  WORK  53 

cheese,  and  milk,  for  our  paper  and  wood-pulp,  for  our 
flour-mills,  and  for  our  coke,  petroleum,  and  salt. 

Some  Significant  Facts,  In  491  stores  in  Chicago 
which  were  open  six  full  days  a  week,  winter  and  sum- 
mer, women  frequently  worked  seventy  hours  a  week, 
with  Sunday  afternoon  extra  twice  a  month.  A  rail- 
road engineer  recently  took  his  life  in  a  period  of  un- 
balanced mentality  after  he  had  been  forty-five  suc- 
cessive working  days  at  the  throttle.  A  freight  con- 
ductor recently  told  me  that  he  had  just  finished  over 
fifty-six  days'  continuous  work,  and  said  he  was  better 
off  than  most  of  the  men,  for  he- had  been  over  twenty 
years  in  the  service  and  had  the  preference  of  senior- 
ity which  gave  him  the  easier  runs.  The  Railway 
News,  writing  in  defense  of  working  conditions  on  the 
railroads,  says  that  only  one  employee  in  five  on  an 
average  last  year  was  compelled  to  render  excess  ser- 
vice during  any  one  day  in  the  whok  year,  and  the 
total  number  of  cases  of  excess  service  from  all  causes 
reported  was  only  61,247  during  the  year  ending  June 
30,  1915.  This  means  continuous  service  in  excess  of 
sixteen  hours,  for  that  is  the  point  set  by  federal 
statutes  beyond  which  the  record  must  be  kept  This 
twelve  months'  record  is  submitted  as  proof  of  the 
rare  occurrence  of  long  hours.  But  no  one  knows  the 
amount  of  work  that  fell  just  short  of  sixteen  hours. 
An  investigation  of  over  a  thousand  waitresses  showed 
that  20  per  cent,  were  working  twelve  hours  a  day, 
that  58  per  cent,  were  exceeding  the  fifty-four  hour 
limit  for  women  in  factories  and  mercantile  estab- 
lishments, that  one  third  do  not  have  one  day's  rest  in 
seven,  that  the  great  majority  were  not  even  allowed 


THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

time  off  for  meals,  but  "must  grab  'em  any  way  you 
can."  When  do  these  workers  get  to  church?  How 
does  the  church  get  to  them? 

Is  It  General?  Twenty-eight  states  allow  children 
under  sixteen  to  work  more  than  eight  hours  a  day  in 
stores  and  local  establishments  on  the  mistaken  theory 
that  children's  work  in  stores  is  not  detrimental.  Nine- 
teen states  allow  these  'children  to  work  at  night,  and 
sixteen  have  no  fourteen-year  limit  for  such  employ- 
ment. Little  girls  under  twelve  are  still  working 
eleven  hours  a  day  in  cotton-mills.  In  one  mill  which 
is  interested  in  their  welfare  they  go  to  school  from 
six  to  twelve  o'clock,  and  work  from  twelve  to  six, 
excepting  lunch  time.  This  is  only  one  phase  of  child 
labor,  but  it  is  a  good  example  of  the  thousands  of 
child  workers  whom  the  state  laws  neglect.  The  re- 
sult of  the  Springfield  Survey1  suggests  that  the  long 
day  may  be  a  national  tendency  and  not  simply  a  bad 
condition  in  a  few  great  industries.  In  that  city  85 
per  cent,  of  the  workers  investigated,  or  3,981,  worked 
nine  hours  and  more  a  day.  Only  13  per  cent  of 
them  were  unionized  and  worked  eight  hours  a  day 
or  less.  Much  seven-day  work  was  discovered.  How 
long  do  clerks  work  in  small  country  towns?  What 
are  the  continuous  hours  of  labor  for  the  men  who 
harvest  the  crops — those  seasonal  laborers  who  follow 
the  trail  of  the  wheat  clear  from  Kansas  to  Canada? 
How  does  the  country  church  reach  them? 

Monotonous  Occupation.  Fatigue  is  also  a  question 
of  monotony.  Our  great  standardized  industries  with 
their  efficiency  methods  often  provide  a  man  with  one 

1Survey  of  Springfield,  Illinois,  Russell  Sage  Foundation,  1914 


THE  DAY'S  WORK  55 

automatic  act  which  he  must  continually  do.  In  the 
Chicago  stock-yards  a  few  men  stand  for  hour  after 
hour  and  do  nothing  but  stick  a  knife  into  the  jugular 
veins  of  passing  pigs.  In  the  Ford  plant  a  man  stands 
and  puts  one  attachment  to  the  car  body  as  it  passes 
him  and  then  gives  it  one  tap  with  a  hammer  to  hold 
it  in  place.  But  the  management  of  the  Ford  plant 
recognizes  the  effect  of  this  automatic  labor  upon  the 
nervous  system  and  keeps  a  man  at  that  piece  of  work 
for  only  two  weeks  at  a  time.  It  then  provides  him 
with  necessary  relief  by  a  change  to  other  work  for 
two  weeks.  The  National  Women's  Trade  Union 
League,  voicing  the  experience  and  judgment  of  work- 
ers  in  many  trades,  declares  that  forty  years  ago  Mas- 
sachusetts passed  the  ten-hour  law  as  a  health  meas- 
ure, but  under  the  present  system  of  speeded-up  in- 
dustry, the  eight-hour  day  would  not  bring  the  same 
measure  of  relief  that  ten  hours  did  forty  years  ago. 
A  physician  who  has  had  wide  experience  in  factory 
investigation  declares  that  in  occupations  involving 
much  hazard,  such  as  dusty  trades,  six  hours  should 
be  the  maximum.  "My  girls  cannot  come  to  the  week- 
night  church  gatherings,"  said  the  Italian  pastor  in  a 
small  Middle  Western  city.  "They  have  no  part  in  the 
interdenominational  life  of  the  young  people  of  the 
other  churches.  After  standing  ten  hours  in  the  wool- 
en-mill they  are  too  tired  to  go  out/'  What,  then, 
should  be  the  attitude  of  the  churches  toward  the 
women  workers'  demand  for  a  universal  eight-hour 
day? 

Speeding  Up.     Another  cause  of  fatigue  is  "speed- 
ing up."    The  necessity  of  keeping  pace  with  the  ma- 


Loyalty  badges  denoting  the  desire  for  justice  to  the  down- 
trodden, have  led  to  the  latest  form  of  child  labor.  Children 
ranging  in  age  from  five  to  ten  years  help  their  mother  to 
make  loyalty  badges  at  three  cents  for  twelve  dozen.  The  baby 
is  three  months  old. 

Courtesy  of  National  Child  Labor  Committee. 


THE  DAY'S  WORK  57 

chine  set  at  a  certain  rate,  or  with  the  standard  set  by 
the  piece-work  plan  or  the  efficiency  system  works 
havoc  with  the  nerves  and  health  of  the  workers.  The 
quickest  girls,  who  are  given  a  bonus  to  set  the  pace 
for  the  shop  so  that  the  wage  can  be  cut  by  increasing 
the  work  required,  do  not  long  stand  the  pace.  They 
soon  break  down  and  pay  the  price  of  their  ambition, 
which  has  been  cunningly  made  the  instrument  of 
their  destruction.  Said  one  such  girl,  at  27  a  physical 
and  nervous  wreck  supported  by  others:  "I  thought 
I  was  smarter  than  the  rest.  Now  I  see  that,  like  a 
fool,  I  ruined  myself  and  hurt  the  others."  The  hu- 
man system  was  built  to  live  outdoors;  it  was  not 
made  to  stand  the  noise,  the  clatter,  the  dust,  the  bad 
air  of  indoor  machine  work.  Its  rhythmic  motions, 
both  of  muscle  and  nerve,  are  keyed  in  a  different 
pitch  from  that  of  the  machine,  and  when  the  pitch 
must  be  changed  to  keep  pace  with  the  mechanism 
driven  by  steam  or  the  electric  current,  something  gets 
out  of  gear  or  breaks.  The  men  who  work  under  the 
efficiency  system  do  not  regard  it  as  do  those  who 
are  well  paid  to  install  it,  or  those  who  get  increased 
production  and  more  profits  from  it.  Says  one  of 
them:  "I'll  never  work  again  where  there's  an  effi- 
ciency system  if  I  can  help  it.  It's  too  much  strain 
to  feel  that  you've  got  to  turn  out  so  much  work  in 
so  much  time.  You're  always  on  the  jump."  This 
nation  has  yet  to  discover  that  a  man  is  "worth  more 
than  a  sheep/'  that  to  make  the  greatest  number  of 
articles  in  the  smallest  possible  time  at  the  lowest 
production  cost  is  not  the  highest  ideal  of  industry. 
The  church  is  charged  with  spreading  the  gospel  of 


58          THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A    vVOKiUNG    VVWJXI.D 

"life  more  abundant"  for  all  the  people.  How  shall  it 
be  made  real  in  every  respect  for  the  industrial  work- 
ers? This  problem  home  missions  is  now  facing. 

In  June,  1917,  the  Women's  Trade  Union  League 
found  it  necessary  to  protest  to  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  because  government  establishments,  notably 
the  Bureau  of  Engraving  and  Printing  and  the  Gov- 
ernment Printing  Office,  had  been  operating  with  ex- 
cessive overtime,  amounting  to  twelve  hours  a  day 
and  seven  days  a  week,  for  several  hundreds  of  em- 
ployees, among  them  many  women. 

Winning  a  Rest-day.  Obviously  the  first  duty  of 
the  forces  which  are  trying  to  carry  the  church  to  the 
toilers  is  to  secure  for  them  one  day's  rest  in  seven. 
"The  worker  doesn't  need  more  labor  laws;  he  needs 
more  God,"  says  a  prominent  church  leader.  But  the 
old  Hebrew  law  believed  that  one  way  to  give  him 
more  God  was  to  give  him  one  day's  rest  in  seven. 
In  this  way  God  was  put  into  his  consciousness 
through  his  working  experience,  and  we  may  well  fol- 
low that  example.  Those  who  sit  easy  in  church 
while  others  work  for  their  comfort  or  for  their  profit 
will  do  well  to  remember  that  Jesus  called  those  who 
did  the  same  thing  in  his  day  nothing  but  "whited 
sepulchers." 

The  Same  Job.  When  the  missionary  goes  into  a 
frontier  community,  the  first  thing  he  does  is  to  hold 
religious  services  and  to  generate  some  respect  for 
the  sacred  day  of  rest.  In  such  a  community,  which 
had  previously  known  no  law  of  God  or  man,  the  lead- 
ing spirit  one  day  declared :  "We  must  have  a  Sunday- 
school  to  keep  up  with  "  (the  rival  neigh- 


THE  DAY'S  WORK  59 

boring  settlement).  They  organized  it,  and  at  the 
opening  session  a  man  was  suddenly  called  on  to  pray. 

"But  I  can't  pray." 

"Pray,  damn  you,  pray !"  was  the  command. 

Out  of  such  conditions  home  missions  produced 
law-abiding,  religious  communities.  'When  the  church 
goes  into  an  industrial  community  with  its  great 
group  of  unskilled,  ignorant  immigrant  workers,  the 
task  is  fundamentally  the  same;  it  merely  takes  an- 
other form.  The  evils  of  the  frontier  community — 
liquor,  gambling,  immorality — the  heroic  leaders  of 
home  missions  have  heroically  and  uncompromisingly 
attacked.  These  evils  the  church  still  fights  in  the  in- 
dustrial community.  With  the  same  fearless  spirit  it 
must  move  against  such  industrial  wrongs  as  the 
seven-day  week.  Many  immigrant  workers,  if  they  do 
not  have  to  work,  spend  Sunday  largely  in  carousing. 
To  attempt  to  prevent  by  law  what  they  have  long 
regarded  as  their  right,  and  then  to  make  no  effort  to 
prevent  them  from  being  worked  excessively,  will  not 
commend  our  religion  to  them.  We  have  been  pro- 
tecting the  day  with  our  Sabbath  laws :  we  must  now 
protect  the  men.  Then  we  can  teach  them  not  simply 
to  observe  the  day  but  to  use  the  day  for  their  souls' 
health. 

A  Religious  Duty.  The  short-hour  day  is  just  as 
much  a  religious  necessity  as  the  six-day  week.  The 
effects  of  fatigue  that  have  been  described — the  in- 
crease of  drink  and  vice,  the  smothering  of  religious 
interest,  the  destruction  of  home  life,  the  breakdown 
of  the  health  of  the  workers,  and  the  lowering  of  the 
vitality  of  the  nation — come  in  largest  measure  from 


60          THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

the  long  day.  They  develop  after  the  six-day  week 
obtains.  Consequently  when  the  men  through  their 
organizations  demand  the  eight-hour  day,  when  the 
women  come  asking  for  it  in  forty  state  legislatures 
and  in  Congress,  it  is  an  appeal  to  the  forces  of  re- 
ligion. Overworked  people  cannot  properly  partici- 
pate in  the  life  of  the  family,  the  nation,  or  the  church. 
If  we  are  to  develop  a  Christian  family,  a  Christian 
church,  a  Christian  nation,  we  must  protect  the  work- 
ers from  the  effects  of  fatigue.  Of  course,  shorten- 
ing the  hours  of  work  will  not  automatically  produce 
religion,  but  it  will  give  religion  room  to  develop. 
The  churches  will  then  face  the  opportunity  and  re- 
sponsibility of  teaching  the  workers  how  to  use  their 
leisure  time. 

A  Further  Task.  Jesus  called  the  people  to  him  to 
get  rest.  He  declared  that  he  came  to  give  them 
life  and  more  abundant  life.  It  was  rest  for  the  pur- 
pose of  getting  life.  The  cultivation  of  life  depends 
upon  leisure.  There  must  be  time  and  strength  left 
over  from  bread-and-butter  activities  to  pursue  the  dis- 
cipline of  culture.  This  is  now  denied  to  great  groups 
of  workers.  They  have  no  access  to  the  agencies  for 
culture  provided  by  the  community,  because  they  are 
too  tired  to  take  advantage  of  them.  Says  a  New 
York  garment-worker  standing  by  his  machine,  "If 
I'm  thirsty,  they'll  give  me  a  drink;  if  I'm.  hungry, 
they  won't  let  me  starve ;  but  now  when  my  mind  is 
hungry  for  knowledge  and  my  mind  is  thirsty  for 
learning,  who  will  give  it  to  me?  Wise  men  tell  me 
to  go  to  night-school,  but  did  they  ever  try  going  to 
night-school  after  working  ten  hours  a  day?"  Are 


THE  DAY'S  WORK  $1 

there  any  young  people  in  your  community  too  tired 
to  attend  mission  study  classes? 

The  Task  Begun.  In  all  our  important  manufac- 
turing industries  the  hours  of  labor  have  tended  slowly 
but  steadily  to  decrease.  The  working  time  used  to 
be  as  long  as  men  could  see,  either  in  the  field  or  the 
factory,  and  as  long  as  they  could  stand,  either  in  the 
mine  or  the  mill.  Recently  five  states  and  the  District 
of  Columbia  have  established  an  eight-hour  law  for 
women  and  the  Supreme  Court  has  sustained  them. 
Five  other  states  have  created  by  law  a  period  of 
rest  for  women  from  10  p.  M.  to  6  A.  M.  One  state 
has  recently  ordered  the  ten-hour  day  for  men,  and 
Congress  has  set  eight  hours  as  the  standard  for  rail- 
road engineers  and  conductors.  In  the  past  twelve 
months  many  employers  have  adopted  the  eight-hour 
work-day,  affecting  hundreds  of  thousands  of  men.  By 
private  initiative  and  by  legislation  this  movement 
must  be  pushed  until  it  reaches  the  standard  set  by 
the  Federal  Council  of  the  Churches  of  Christ  in  Amer- 
ica: "the  gradual  and  reasonable  reduction  of  the 
hours  of  labor  to  the  lowest  practicable  point,  and 
.  .  .  that  degree  of  leisure  for  all  which  is  a  con- 
dition of  the  highest  human  life." 

Some  Consequences.  It  has  been  established  be- 
yond peradventure  that  the  shortening  of  the  work- 
day has  resulted  in  commercial  prosperity.  When 
Massachusetts  first  reduced  hours  from  eleven  to  ten, 
the  result  was  increased  production.  In  general  in- 
dustries, with  only  one  or  two  striking  exceptions,  the 
reduction  of  the  hours  of  labor  has  meant  larger  out- 
put The  steel-workers  of  England  temporarily  bore 


62          THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

the  cost  of  changing  from  twelve-  to  eight-hour  shifts 
to  prove  to  the  managers  that  it  was  profitable. 

An  American  corporation  which  manufactures 
tools  decided  that  the  reason  for  its  difficulty  in  hir- 
ing and  keeping  men  was  that  its  work  was  hard, 
laborious,  and  tiring.  On  December  4,  1916,  it  re- 
duced the  hours  from  57^  to  52J^  per  week  and  so 
adjusted  the  rate  of  pay  that  the  wage  was  slightly 
better  than  on  the  old  basis.  In  March,  1917,  the 
secretary  reported :  "The  results  speak  for  themselves. 
The  men  felt  better  and  appreciated  our  action.  It  is 
much  easier  to  hire  men  than  before.  The  weekly 
production  in  one  of  our  worst  departments,  in  spite 
of  the  shorter  hours,  has  increased  18.4  per  cent.,  and 
in  the  entire  plant  10  per  cent." 

Last  year  another  company  reduced  the  working 
week  for  the  7,000  men  in  its  seven  shoe  factories 
from  55  to  52  hours.  An  exhaustive  study  of  results 
after  four  months'  operation  showed  that  the  daily 
production  unit  per  employee  not  only  did  not  de- 
cline as  was  feared,  but  has  actually  increased.  The 
report  concludes:  "Long  working  hours  are  not  only 
an  economic  loss  to  the  community  as  a  whole;  even 
inside  factory  walls  there  is  no  net  profit  in  running 
on  a  schedule  of  much  over  eight  and  one  half  hours 
per  day." 

The  testimony  is  equally  clear  as  to  the  increase  of 
health  and  morals.  Workers  in  the  short-hour  trades 
consume  less  liquor  per  capita  than  the  long-hour 
trades.  Short  hours  have  never  in  the  long  run  meant 
more  dissipation.  They  have  invariably  raised  the 
standards  of  living.  Always  the  succeeding  genera- 


THE  DAY'S  WORK  63 

tion  of  workers  has  shown  extraordinary  improvement 
in  physique,  intelligence,  and  morals.  The  first  use 
the  printers  made  of  the  eight-hour  day  was  to  es- 
tablish a  correspondence  school  in  the  artistic  aspects 
of  their  craft.  So  clear  is  the  case  that  the  Factory 
Inspectors  of  America  in  convention  assembled  de- 
clared that  scarcely  any  movement  of  the  century  over- 
shadows the  shortening  of  the  hours  of  work  in  im- 
portance for  the  moral  and  material  welfare  of 
society. 

The  Limits  of  Law.  Law  can  be  used  to  prevent 
fatigue.  For  its  own  protection,  the  nation  can  fix 
the  length  of  the  working  day  at  the  point  where 
fatigue  endangers  community  health  and  morals.  This 
is  not  the  breaking-point,  as  one  far-seeing  labor  leader 
points  out,  but  the  point  where  the  limit  of  elasticity 
is  passed.  In  the  testing  of  steel,  where  the  breaking- 
point  can  be  calculated,  the  danger  point  is  found  to 
be  about  half-way  to  breaking.  The  precise  location 
must  be  determined  for  men  and  women  as  well  as 
for  steel,  through  experiment  in  the  effects  of  over- 
strain. This  danger-point  is  the  limit  of  action  for 
the  law,  and  laws  can  be  broken  or  evaded.  But 
where  the  law  ends,  the  gospel  begins. 

The  Call  of  Brotherhood.  The  gospel  that  teaches 
us  to  love  our  neighbor  as  ourselves  calls  to  us  to 
share  with  him  the  opportunity  for  all  the  develop- 
ment of  life.  The  groups  of  workers  at  the  bottom 
of  society,  already  weakened  by  overwork,  often  in- 
heriting its  effects  from  generations  before  them,  are 
not  able  alone  to  emancipate  themselves  from  its  pres- 
sure. It  is  a  challenge  to  the  intelligence  and  strength 


64          THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

of  the  churches  to  discover  how  the  hours  of  labor 
can  be  reduced  to  the  point  where  it  is  possible  for 
this  group  to  gain  development  and  culture.  The  gos- 
pel teaching  of  brotherhood  requires  that  work  and 
leisure  must  both  be  shared,  that  there  must  be  a 
brotherhood  of  toil  and  a  brotherhood  of  culture. 

A  New  Spirit.  It  is  clearly  the  present  duty  of  the 
churches  to  permeate  society  with  this  principle  of 
brotherhood.  To  relieve  the  community  from  the  bur- 
den of  overwork  there  are  three  forces  at  work — the 
defensive  power  of  labor  organizations,  the  good-will 
of  employers,  the  strong  hand  of  the  law.  All  these 
the  church  can  aid  and  stimulate.  But  after  all  it  is 
a  new  spirit  that  industry  needs,  the  spirit  that  Jesus 
revealed  in  his  life  and  death — the  spirit  of  service — 
which  will  lead  the  strong  to  share  life  with  the  weak 
and  to  discover  the  methods  that  will  forever  eman- 
cipate the^  workers  from  bondage  to  excessive  toil. 


Ill 

THE  PAY  ENVELOP 


Aim:  To  show. the  religious  nature  of  the  demand  of 
the  industrial  workers  for  increased  income,  in-  order  that 
the  church  may  recognize  its  missionary  duty  in  regard 
to  it. 


Ill 

THE  PAY  ENVELOP 

Working  for  Wages.  "How  much  does  he  get?" 
It  is  a  common  question  wherever  business  men  con- 
gregate. It  is  not  infrequently  heard  in  other  gath- 
erings, even  among  preachers.  The  question  used  to 
be:  "How  much  is  he  worth?"  The  change  indicates 
the  fact  that  most  of  the  men  who  work  in  the  busi- 
ness world  are  working  for  some  one  else.  This  is 
one  of  the  results  of  the  organization  of  industry  into 
corporations.  It  means  that  for  the  great  majority  of 
workers,  from  the  unskilled  laborer  to  the  man  of 
high  intellectual  capacity  and  skilled  training,  there 
is  a  fixed  income.  Some  draw  wages  and  some  take 
a  salary,  but  the  income  of  both  groups  no  longer  rep- 
resents what  they  can  make  as  in  the  old  days  of 
small  independent,  competitive  business  enterprises, 
but  rather  the  supposed  value  of  their  services  to  the 
employing  firm. 

Even  the  president  of  the  company  is  required  to 
serve  the  stockholders  with  all  his  time  and  ability. 
He  is  not  supposed  to  have  any  independent  interest. 
A  few  years  ago  it  was  considered  perfectly  proper 
for  him  to  make  money  "on  the  side,"  even  out  of  his 
own  corporation.  But  that  practise  is  now  generally 
regarded  as  unethical.  The  days  of  great  adventure 
in  money-making  are  ending;  the  old  freebooting  days, 
when  strong  men  took  what  they  found,  are  done. 

67 


68          THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

A  Significant  Change.  A  man  who  draws  a  salary 
of  $100,000  a  year  for  managing  a  great  business  was 
recently  reminded  by  a  radical  journal  that  even 
though  he  is  a  prominent  man  in  the  financial  and 
civic  life  of  his  city,  yet  as  much  as  any  bundle  girl 
in  that  store  he  is  working  for  the  heirs  of  the  founder 
of  his  business.  "They  are  your  fellow  employees," 
he  was  told ;  "would  it  not  be  well  for  you  to  recog- 
nize your  duty  to  them  ?"  Here  is  a  twofold  advance, 
holding  great  possibilities.  The  motive  of  service  to 
an  organization  is  exalted  above  the  motive  of  un- 
bridled gain,  and  this  emphasizes  the  community  of 
interest  and  the  necessity  of  fellow-feeling  between  all 
grades  of  workers.  Suppose  now  that  the  motive  of 
service  can  be  extended  from  the  employing  organi- 
zation to  the  whole  community,  so  that  both  those 
who  draw  salaries  and  those  who  get  wages  shall  come 
to  know  that  they  are  working  for  the  public  good 
and  not  primarily  to  make  money  for  others !  How 
would  this  tend  to  realize  Jesus'  teaching  of  brother- 
hood and  service? 

A  Living  or  a  Life.  The  reason  that  the  size  of  the 
pay  envelop  or  the  salary  check  is  a  topic  of  com- 
pelling interest  in  social  gatherings  and  in  assemblies 
of  preachers  as  well  as  in  business  circles,  is  because 
the  fact  of  income  is  central  in  the  life  of  the  family. 
The  home  cannot  start  until  there  is  money  enough  to 
provide  for  it.  Whether  or  not  it  can  maintain  cer- 
tain standards  is  finally  determined  by  the  size  of  its 
income.  Around  the  pay  envelop,  the  home  life  of  the 
industrial  worker  revolves.  It  is  to  him  what  the 
prospect  of  the  crop  is  to  the  farmer.  It  means 


THE  PAY  ENVELOP  69 

health  or  sickness,  clothes  and  education  for  his  chil- 
dren. It  even  means  how  much  church  life  the  family 
feels  itself  able  to  have.  "We  cannot  come  because 
our  clothes  will  not  let  us  feel  at  home,"  is  the  con- 
stant answer  of  the  people  of  small  income  to  the 
church  visitor. 

A  Burning  Question.  The  problem  of  family 
finance  is  a  burning  and  a  far-reaching  issue.  For 
many  a  worker  who  will  live  and  die  in  his  trade 
with  a  fixed  income,  it  means  first,  "Can  I  afford  to 
marry?  Will  my  wage  support  a  family  in  decency?" 
And  then  later  when  the  children  come,  "How  will  we 
tide  over  this  winter  with  our  kiddies?"  and  later, 
"How  will  they  be  fed,  clothed,  and  educated?"  This 
is  the  tragedy  of  the  pay  envelop  which  is  being 
acted  week  by  week,  month  by  month,  in  millions  of 
homes  all  over  this  land,  as  the  family  income  is  be- 
ing worked  out  into  standards  of  living.  The  out- 
come of  that  tragedy  in  any  family  is  of  supreme  in- 
terest to  the  community  because  it  has  to  bear  the 
consequences.  In  some  cases  the  tragedy  of  the  fam- 
ily income  is  because  it  is  too  big.  It  promotes  lux- 
ury and  degeneration.  It  means  automobiles  and  joy 
rides  and  foolish  dances  into  the  small  hours  for  the 
young  people,  with  inevitable  physical  and  moral 
weakness.  For  millions  more  the  tragedy  is  that  the 
pay  envelop  is  too  small.  They  must  live  constantly 
on  the  "poverty  line,"  with  never  enough  to  satisfy 
their  aspirations  or  provide  efficiency  of  life.  "Charley 
X  is  not  here  to-day,"  said  a  Y.  M.  C.  A.  secretary 
to  an  employer  who  grumbled  that  the  workers  wasted 
their  money  in  drink  and  tobacco,  "because  he  has 


70          THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

not  a  suit  of  clothes  fit  to  go  out  in;  and  the  reason 
is  because  he  is  trying  to  send  his  boys  through  high 
school,  and  the  wages  you  pay  will  not  permit  it  un- 
less he  stints  himself." 

What  Is  a  Living?  For  some  time  now  the  stu- 
dents of  labor  conditions  have  been  talking  about  a 
"standard  of  living/'  That  means  the  measurement 
of  family  welfare  in  terms  of  income  and  expenditure. 
It  means  determining  the  amount  of  goods  necessary 
to  provide  a  family  with  a  certain  amount  of  well- 
being,  and  then  the  amount  of  income  necessary  to 
provide  these  goods.  In  these  studies  the  size  of  the 
family  has  been  arbitrarily  set  at  five;  a  man  and  a 
wife  and  three  children  below  the  wage-earning  period. 
This  happens  to  be  the  average  family  for  the  great 
majority  of  Americans.  Two  standards  have  been  set ; 
one,  a  minimum  standard  of  living ;  the  other,  an  effi- 
ciency or  comfort  standard. 

The  Minimum  Standard.  The  minimum  standard 
means  the  amount  that  is  necessary  to  maintain  life 
at  the  bare  level  of  physical  efficiency.  Below  it  "lies 
insufficient  education,  absence  of  decency  and  privacy, 
ill-ventilated  rooms,  unhandsome  clothing,  and  food 
ill  adapted  for  nutrition."  It  is  so  low  that  few  fam- 
ilies would  be  expected  to  live  upon  it.  It  provides 
only  the  food  necessary  for  continued  working,  cloth- 
ing enough  to  keep  warm,  changes  to  keep  clean  and 
avoid  rags,  the  minimum  of  light  and  fuel,  and  the 
sundries  necessary  for  house  cleaning.  No  provision 
is  made  for  carfare,  funeral  expenses,  or  insurance. 

The  Efficiency  Standard.  The  fair,  or  efficiency, 
standard  provides  in  addition  some  things  for  the  de- 


THE  PAY  ENVELOP  71 

velopment  of  life  and  the  satisfaction  of  normal  de- 
sires: a  varied  diet  and  a  complete  amount  of  nutri- 
tion, clothing  allowance  for  individual  tastes  and 
changes  for  Sundays  and  holidays,  housing  with  one 
room  to  every  one  and  a  half  persons,  allowance  for 
health  and  insurance  and  some  simple  recreation. 
Practically  no  luxuries  are  allowed,  but  minimum  com- 
forts are  provided  and  all  of  the  strict  necessities  are 
made  possible.  This  standard  sends  the  children  to 
school,  pays  for  medical  care  except  in  prolonged  ill- 
ness, and  it  means  the  very  simple  life. 

What  Does  It  Cost?  To  determine  the  cost  of  the 
standards  of  living  we  have  the  results  of  a  number 
of  investigations,  three  of  them  made  by  the  federal 
government  in  different  states.  These  results,  com- 
pared with  those  furnished  by  half  a  dozen  private 
investigators  in  different  cities  and  by  a  number  of 
writers  who  have  popularized  the  various  problems 
of  making  income  stretch  to  family  support,  all  tend 
"to  the  same  conclusion — namely,  that  a  family  of 
five,  a  man,  wife,  and  three  children  under  fourteen, 
require  from  $400  to  $600  to  provide  subsistence,  and 
from  $650  to  $1,000  to  insure  efficiency.  The  vari- 
ations are  between  different  sections  of  the  country, 
and  between  different  cities  and  towns."  But  these 
estimates  were  made  before  the  summer  of  1914.  To 
them  must  be  added  the  rise  in  the  cost  of  living  due 
to  the  war.  A  recent  investigation  of  the  federal  De- 
partment of  Labor  covering  the  actual  cost  of  the 
major  articles  of  food  generally  used  by  workingmen's 
families  in  different  cities  shows  that  an  average  of 
27  per  cent,  has  been  added  to  the  cost  of  these  items 


Under  the  relentless  sun  and  dragging  heavy  bags,  children 
in  the  cotton  fields  continue  their  monotonous,  finger-benumbing 
task  through  the  long  day.  A  child  of  five  will  pick  thirty  pounds 
of  the  light,  feathery  bolls,  and  this  is  the  beginning  of  years 
of  incessant  grind  and  great  physical  strain. 

Courtesy  of  National  Child  Labor  Committee. 


THE  PAY  ENVELOP  73 

of  food.     Other  articles  have  become  still  higher. 

What  About  Wages?  The  facts  about  wages  are 
incomplete.  They  indicate,  however,  that  in  the  manu- 
facturing and  transportation  industries  east  of  the 
Rockies  and  north  of  the  Mason  and  Dixon  Line,  the 
adult  male  wage-earners  receive  in  annual  earnings: 

One  tenth  under  $325.  Three  fourths  under  $600. 

One  fifth  under  $400.  Nine  tenths  under  $800. 

One  half  under  $500. 

The  adult  females  employed  in  that  section  receive : 

One  fifth  under  $200.  Nine  tenths  under  $500. 

Three  fifths  under  $325.         Nineteen  twentieths  under  $600. 

It  is  a  fair  conclusion  that  10,000,000  wage-earners 
in  the  United  States  receive  less  than  $500,  and  that 
the  average  income  of  12,000,000  is  only  $500.  The 
latest  study  in  the  distribution  of  income  in  the 
United  States,  by  Professor  Willford  I.  King  of  Wis- 
consin, concludes  that  26.08  per  cent,  of  the  fami- 
lies receive  less  than  $600.  The  1910  census  de- 
clares that  the  average  wage  of  those  working  in 
manufactories  is  $670.  This  includes  the  high-salaried 
persons  at  the  top — the  directors,  superintendents,  and 
others.  While  wages  have  generally  been  raised  as 
a  result  of  the  war,  in  only  a  few  skilled  trades  has 
the  increase  kept  pace  with  the  added  cost  of  living. 

Workers  on  the  Soil.  The  Federal  Commission  on 
Industrial  Relations  heard  testimony  concerning  the 
conditions  of  tenant  farmers  in  some  sections,  particu- 
larly in  the  South  and  Southwest,  where  wages  are 
lower  in  industry  than  in  the  northern  section  of  the 
country.  This  testimony  showed  conclusively  that  a 


74          THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

large  proportion  of  the  agricultural  workers  of  the 
region  were  living  on  less  than  the  minimum  standard 
of  nourishment.  With  tenancy  increasing  in  our  pros- 
perous agricultural  states,  it  means  that  there  will 
be  a  lower  standard  of  living  for  the  children  of  tenant 
farmers  than  there  was  for  the  owners  of  a  previous 
generation. 

The  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture  re- 
ports the  results  of  study  of  the  labor  income,  includ- 
ing family  supplies,  of  3,935  farmers  as  follows: 

579  or  14.7  per  cent,  less  than  $600. 
2,106  or  33.5  per  cent.,  between  $600  and  $1,000. 
1,250  or  31.8  per  cent.,  over  $1,000. 

Professor  Paul  L.  Vogt  concludes  after  a  compari- 
son with  statistics  of  income  for  other  groups  that 
the  farmer  is  faring  better  than  the  great  majority  of 
bread-winners  in  cities  and  is  better  off  financially 
than  the  most  numerous  professional  groups — the 
preachers  and  teachers.  The  United  States  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture  also  reports  that  the  average 
wages  per  year,  without  board,  for  the  farm  laborer,  in 
1915  were  $361.80. 

Some  Current  Facts.  Many  people  believe  that  be- 
cause wages  have  been  rising  the  condition  of  the 
wage-earners  has  been  steadily  improving.  Professor 
King  concludes  that  there  has  been  a  decline  of  "real" 
wages  since  1900;  that  is,  a  decline  in  the  amount  of 
goods  and  well-being  that  can  be  secured  by  a  given 
amount  of  wages.  He  declares  that  the  lot  of  the 
worker  is  worse  off  than  it  was  before  1900,  and  that 
the  wage-earners  have  not  shared  nearly  as  much  in 
prosperity  as  have  the  rich.  It  is  the  economic  law  that 


THE  PAY  ENVELOP  75 

wages  always  rise  after  prices  and  fall  before  them. 
The  head  of  the  Ford  Social  Welfare  Department 
makes  the  statement  that  the  value  of  real  estate  in 
Detroit  jumped  $50,000,000  for  five  years  as  a  result 
of  the  Ford  profit-sharing  plan.  This  is  one  of  the 
reasons  why  living  expenses  have  so  increased  in  De- 
troit that  the  workingman  now  receiving  $5  a  day 
finds  that  he  cannot  live  as  well  as  he  could  before 
the  introduction  of  profit-sharing  on  $3  a  day.  De- 
troit, with  its  large  automobile  industry,  is  a  high-wage 
town,  yet  its  social  workers  in  assembly  recently  de- 
clared that  75  per  cent,  of  the  families  of  its  wage- 
earners  did  not  have  a  "fair"  standard  of  living. 

Some  More  Facts.  New  York  has  paid  big  bonuses 
to  the  officials  of  the  Interborough  Rapid  Transit 
Company,  which  is  building  the  new  subway,  but  the 
muckers — the  men  who  dig  the  clay  and  the  dirt  out 
of  the  excavation — have  been  receiving  $1.50  a  day. 
Later  the  rate  was  raised  to  $1.75,  but  this  is  com- 
pletely inadequate  to  provide  even  a  minimum  stand- 
ard of  living  for  the  average  family  in  New  York  City. 
Here  the  community  itself  is  employing-  men  on  con- 
tract at  less  than  a  living  wage.  The  Youngstown 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  in  defending  its  town  against 
the  aspersions  that  came  upon  it  because  of  a  strike, 
lists  nine  cities  in  Ohio  with  their  average  wages. 
Youngstown  appears  at  the  top  of  the  list  with  an 
average  of  $8.50  per  week,  while  the  lowest  city  pays 
$6.04  per  week.  These  are  census  figures,  but  they  do 
not  show  the  real  conditions  because,  in  taking  the 
average,  they  include  proprietors,  firm  members,  and 
salaried  employees,  some  of  whose  salaries  are  mom- 


76          THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

in  a  year  than  the  wage-earner  gets  in  fifteen  years. 
Dividing  the  amount  paid  in  wages  by  the  number  of 
wage-earners  gives  $778  for  Youngstown  instead  of 
$8.50,  and  it  must  be  remembered  that  averages  do 
not  help  the  men  who  fall  below  them.  As  one  labor 
leader  is  fond  of  saying,  "You  can't  eat  an  average." 
After  receiving  two  ten-per-cent.  advances  the  com- 
mon laborer  still  makes  in  Youngstown  only  $2.50  in 
a  ten-hour  day.  This  does  not  provide  a  fair  standard 
of  living. 

What  One  Church  Found.  A  men's  Bible  class  se- 
cured positions  for  175  unemployed  men  during  1916. 
It  reports: 

Of  the  175  positions,  45  were  filled  by  married  men  with 
an  average  monthly  wage  of  $48,  The  average  wage  for  single 
men  was  $41  per  month. 

Considering  the  present  high  cost  of  living,  the  facts  revealed 
through  our  employment  bureau  indicate  that  the  vast  majority 
are  receiving  less  than  a  living  wage,  a  fact  which  is  the  prin- 
cipal cause  of  poverty. 

No  wage  can  be  adequate  in  the  fullest  sense  of  that  term 
until  it  makes  possible  reasonable  livelihood  and  economic  and 
social  standards. 

Within  the  Church.  The  same  class  called  for  big 
brothers  to  help  some  of  its  500  members  meet  their 
actual  living  expenses.  It  recorded  the  following: 

Mr.  S ,  married,  five  in  family.  Wages  when  work- 
ing full  time,  $12.60.  Expenses:  food,  $6  per  week;  rent,  $2 
per  week;  fuel,  $1.80  per  week;  furniture  on  instalment  plan, 
$1  per  week;  insurance,  75  cents  per  month;  oil,  20  cents  per 
week;  water  meter,  50  cents  per  month.  No  provision  made  for 
clothing,  sickness,  or  recreation. 

Mr.  T ,  married,  four  in  family.  Wages  $9  per  week. 

Expenses:  food,  $6  per  week;  rent,  $3  per  week;  fuel,  $1.25 
per  week;  furniture  on  instalment  plan.  No  provision  made  for 
clothing,  sickness,  or  recreation.  This  man  is  continually  run- 
ning behind.  Collectors  are  constantly  "dunning"  him.  Has  a 
little  baby  which  must  have  milk  regularly. 


THE  PAY  ENVELOP  77 

Mr.  P ,  married,  five  in  family.  Wages  $13  per 

week.  Expenses :  food,  $7  per  week ;  rent,  $3  per  week ;  fuel, 
$1.25  per  week;  gas,  25  cents  per  week;  clothing  on  instalment 
plan,  $1  per  week.  No  provision  made  for  emergencies.  Has 
one  little  baby  which  has  been  sick  much  of  the  time. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  state  further  cases  at  this  time.  The 
above  will  give  you  some  idea  as  to  how  many  of  our  members 
have  to  struggle  in  order  to  eke  out  a  bare  existence. 

A  Business  Agency  Reports: 

The  background  of  wage  demands  appears  when  we  look  over 
recent  budgets.  In  the  case  of  the  Detroit  street-car  men  a 
budget  of  necessary  expenses  for  a  workman's  family  consist- 
ing of  himself,  wife,  and  three  children,  recently  showed  $1,486 
as  the  required  figure.  On  the  basis  of  this  exhibit  a  maximum 
wage  of  40  cents  per  hour  was  granted!  Working  ten  hours 
a  day  for  300  days  a  man  would  thus  earn  $1,200  in  a  year.  In 
Dallas,,  Texas,  average  expenditures  in  fifty  workmen's  families 
were  $1,135  per  year.  Average  income,  with  no  allowance  for 
loss  of  time,  was  $962.  Necessities  for  a  "safe,  normal  living" 
were  estimated  at  $1,081.  So  long  as  this  disparity  between  in- 
come and  living  costs  remains,  clients  may  expect  continued 
labor  trouble. 

The  Case  of  the  Waitresses.  Studying  the  wait- 
resses of  New  York,  the  Consumers'  League  found  that 
87  per  cent,  of  these  women  workers  got  less  than  $9 
a  week,  which  is  the  minimum  on  which  a  girl  can 
live  independently  in  New  York.  Even  with  food  and 
tips  added,  the  proportion  of  those  receiving  less  than 
a  living  wage  is  30  per  cent.  Of  the  kitchen  and  pan- 
try hands  who  make  up  28  per  cent,  of  all  the  workers, 
one  third  receive  less  than  $6,  and  three  fourths  less 
than  $8  a  week.  This  is  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  a 
special  dress  is  often  required  and  that  fines  for  late- 
ness are  customary.  In  almost  every  place  mistakes 
and  breakages  are  charged  to  the  girls.  It  was  found 
that  65  per  cent,  of  those  who  had  been  at  work  less 
than  a  year  received  $6  or  more  a  week  and  only  55 
per  cent,  of  those  working  over  ten  years  get  as  much. 


78         THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

A  Typical  Situation.  The  Springfield  Survey  in  a 
typical  American  community,  not  industrial,  showed 
that  low  wages  prevailed.  The  minimum  for  an  un- 
skilled male  was  $1.75  to  $2.  Women  in  laundries 
were  getting  $6  a  week.  Salesgirls  in  the  five-and-ten- 
cent  stores  averaged  $4  to  $5  a  week,  but  these  stores 
employed  girls  living  at  home  only.  One  girl  who  had 
worked  seven  years  got  $5  a  week.  The  coal  miners 
average  from  $2.62  for  day-laborers  to  $5  and  more  a 
day  for  miners  and  leaders,  but  in  1914  the  men 
worked  only  181  days.  The  yearly  income  makes  it 
impossible  for  many  of  these  supposedly  high-paid 
men  to  supply  the  average  family  with  the  minimum 
necessities  of  life.  That  this  is  indeed  a  typical  situa- 
tion is  further  indicated  by  the  fact  that  studies  of 
three  of  the  leading  industries  of  the  United  States 
show  that  a  large  proportion  of  the  workers  in  them 
are  not  receiving  an  income  sufficient  to  provide  the 
minimum  standard  for  the  family.  A  fair  conclusion 
of  all  existing  wage  studies  is  that  approximately  50 
per  cent,  of  the  wage-earners  are  unable  to  provide 
a  minimum  family  standard  of  living  in  the  small 
town,  and  approximately  75  per  cent,  cannot  provide 
it  in  the  large  city.  It  means  that  of  the  families 
whose  income  is  between  $700  and  $800,  30  per  cent, 
are  underfed,  52  per  cent,  underclothed,  58  per  cent, 
are  overcrowded. 

What  Does  This  Mean?  This  means  that,  eliminat- 
ing inefficiency,  drunkenness,  and  shiftlessness  from 
the  discussion,  a  large  proportion  of  the  population  is 
living  continuously  upon  the  "poverty  line,"  the  line 
where  income  is  barely  adequate  to  provide  the  abso- 


THE  PAY  ENVELOP  79 

lute  necessities,  with  nothing  left  over  to  meet  the 
inevitable  emergencies  of  life.  It  means  that  those 
energies  which,  if  stimulated  by  a  little  more  income, 
might  go  to  develop  a  higher  standard  of  living,  are 
now  used  up  in  the  constant  struggle  to  prevent  a  def- 
icit. The  strength  that  ought  to  be  available  for  the 
greater  issues  of  life  is  going  into  the  drudgery  of 
getting  enough  to  eat  and  wear  and  pay  the  rent,  to 
keep  the  home  going,  and  to  raise  the  children.  If 
sickness  or  unemployment  comes,  the  family  must  be 
dependent  on  others.  It  is  pushed  down  below  the 
poverty  line  and  often  never  rises  again. 

The  Effect  on  the  Family.  Says  Scott  Nearing: 
"Below  the  standard  of  subsistence  lies  family  disso- 
lution, misery,  want,  starvation,  disease  and  death. 
These  inevitable  things,  following  as  night  follows 
day,  present  themselves  to  the  consciousness  of  the 
thinking  wage-earner  who  looks  toward  the  future." 
He  is  continually  haunted  by  the  shadow  of  fear  that 
ever  falls  across  the  hearthstone  of  those  who  must 
live  in  the  region  of  inadequate  income.  Says  the 
New  York  Charity  Organization  Society  concerning 
the  wage  paid  the  men  in  the  subway  excavation: 
<k Health,  education,  morals — one  or  all  are  almost  cer- 
tain to  break  under  such  a  wage.  Sooner  or  later 
sickness,  malnutrition,  low  vitality,  or  bad  housing 
brings  the  family  to  charity  for  help."  Even  where  the 
family  has  a  fair  standard  of  living,  each  child  that 
comes  drags  it  down  toward  the  poverty  line.  Misery 
and  want,  lying  in  wait  beside  the  threshold,  will 
spring  into  the  home  if  sickness,  unemployment,  or 
accident  comes.  The  fact  "that  no  matter  how  effi- 


80         THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

ciently  or  earnestly  he  may  strive,  many  a  sober,  hon- 
est American  workingman  will  be  unable  to  main- 
tain a  decent  standard  of  living  for  his  wife  and  three 
young  children,"  means  that  the  children  will  have  to 
be  turned  into  wage-earners  as  early  as  possible,  the 
wife  in  many  cases  will  have  to  leave  her  baby  in  a 
day  nursery  or  with  a  neighbor  and  go  out  to  sup- 
plement the  income.  The  home  is  thus  destroyed, 
the  family  is  broken  to  pieces. 

The  Effect  on  Child  Life.  The  Children's  Bureau 
of  the  United  States  Department  of  Labor  has  re- 
cently issued  a  report  on  infant  mortality  in  the  city 
of  Manchester,  New  Hampshire.  The  study  included 
all  babies  whose  births  were  registered  in  a  single 
year,  where  the  families  could  be  found. 

"Nearly  half  of  the  1,643  babies  had  fathers  whose 
earnings  were  less  than  $650  a  year,  and  more  than 
one  eighth  of  the  babies  had  fathers  earning  less  than 
$450  a  year.  Only  one  in  sixteen  (6.4  per  cent.)  had 
fathers  earning  as  much  as  $1,250.  The  death-rate 
among  the  babies  in  the  poorest  families  was  more 
than  four  times  as  high  as  among  those  in  the  highest 
wage  group. 

"The  mothers  of  267  babies  went  out  to  work  dur- 
ing the  first  year  of  the  baby's  life,  and  these  babies 
had  a  death-rate  considerably  higher  than  those  whose 
mothers  worked  at  home  or  were  not  gainfully  em- 
ployed. The  rate  is  especially  high — 277.3  per  1,000 — 
among  the  119  babies  whose  mothers  went  out  to 
work  before  they  were  4  months  old. 

"Low  earnings  on  the  part  of  the  father  appear  to 
be  the  most  potent  reason  for  the  mother's  going  to 


THE  PAY  ENVELOP  81 

work.  Where  the  fathers  earned  less  than  $450  a 
year  almost  three  fourths  of  the  mothers  were  gain- 
fully employed  during  some  part  of  the  year  after  the 
baby's  birth.  As  the  fathers'  earnings  rise,  the  pro- 
portion of  working  mothers  falls  until  in  the  group 
where  fathers  earned  $1,050  or  over,  less  than  one 
tenth  of  the  mothers  worked." 

Additional  Evidence.  A  bulletin  of  the  United 
States  Public  Health  Service  reports  a  mortality  of 
24.8  for  the  infants  of  married  female  garment-workers 
as  against  15.82  for  the  infants  of  married  male  gar- 
ment-workers whose  wives  do  not  have  to  work  out. 

It  declares:  "We  believe  that  wages  have  a  most 
important  bearing  upon  the  morbidity  and  mortality 
of  any  occupation,  because,  where  real  wages  are 
high,  the  standard  of  living  is  correspondingly  high, 
housing  is  better,  food  is  more  plentiful  and  more 
nourishing;  and,  in  short,  conditions  are  more  favor- 
able to  physical  and  mental  well-being,  which  results 
in  greater  resistance  to  disease,  more  recuperative 
power,  and  a  healthier  enjoyment  of  life,  all  of  which 
stimulates  the  worker  to  preserve  his  health  and 
makes  him  more  alert  to  guard  against  accidents; 
whereas  when  wages  are  low,  home  conditions  are  of 
necessity  unfavorable,  and  if  shop  conditions  are  also 
bad,  as  they  frequently  are,  the  hazards  of  any  occu- 
pation are  increased  manyfold." 

Who  Suffers?  The  minimum  cost  of  living  for  a 
single  woman  in  the  large  cities  is  $8  to  $9  a  week, 
and  the  cost  of  an  efficiency  standard  is  $10  to  $12,  or 
slightly  less  in  the  small  town ;  but  all  recent  investi- 
gations lead  to  the  conclusion  that  60  per  cent,  of  the 


82         THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

women  wage-earners  of  the  United  States  are  receiv- 
ing less  than  $325  annually,  that  90  per  cent,  are  earn- 
ing less  than  $500,  while  only  5  per  cent,  are  paid 
more  than  $600  a  year.  An  investigation  of  budgets 
of  thousands  of  working-girls  revealed  the  fact  that 
in  order  to  live  on  less  than  a  living  wage,  the  sav- 
ing is  made  on  food.  "I  am  sick  to  death  of  these  ten- 
cent  lunches,"  is  the  constant  cry.  "If  only  I  could 
spend  a  few  cents  more  and  get  a  square  meal !"  The 
result  of  this  undernourishment  is  the  lowering  of 
vitality;  it  means  sickness  and  premature  breakdown. 
It  means  using  up  the  future  motherhood  of  the  coun- 
try in  making  goods  and  profits. 

The  Immigrant  Group.  The  assault  of  inadequate 
.  wages  upon  family  life  is  largely  borne  by  the  immi- 
grants who  do  our  unskilled  work.  That  they  may 
have  better  standards  of  living  than  they  had  in  the 
country  from  which  they  came  is  entirely  beside  the 
point.  They  may  have  more  to  eat  and  more  to  wear, 
but  they  live  and  work  under  more  unhealthful  con- 
ditions and  at  higher  speed,  and  the  lack  of  a  standard 
of  nourishment  adequate  to  meet  these  changed  condi- 
tions spells  breakdown  if  it  does  not  spell  poverty. 
They  may  be  able  to  save  in  money,  but  they  are  not 
able  to  save  in  health.  Neither  are  they  able  to  pro- 
tect the  morals  of  their  children  in  the  disintegration 
of  family  life  that  results  from  life  in  unfamiliar  sur- 
roundings and  the  pressure  of  the  street  life  of  youth 
upon  the  family.  Give  the  immigrant  families  suffi- 
cient income  to  maintain  vitality,  and  many  of  them 
rise  and  take  their  place  with  the  leaders  of  America ; 
they  make  their  significant  contribution  to  our  na- 


THE  PAY  ENVELOP  83 

tional  life.  Withhold  the  standard  of  living  adequate 
to  American  needs,  and  their  vitality  suffers.  They 
drift  into  sickness,  dependency,  and  delinquency. 
They  become  a  burden  and  a  menace  to  the  commu- 
nity, instead  of  its  hope  and  promise. 

Some  Social  Results.  Individually  the  church  con- 
stantly faces  the  lives  which  are  starved  and  weak- 
ened by  low  wages.  It  earnestly  seeks  to  minister  tq 
the  spiritual  and  social  needs  of  the  immigrants.  It 
must  face  now  with  equal  intelligence  and  determi- 
nation their  economic  condition.  A  study  of  the  pov- 
erty map,  the  mortality  map^jie  .delinquency  map-of. 
any  city  will  show  that  the  districts  where  the  pay  " 
^envelop  is  the_  smallest  are  also  the  districts  where 
charity  makes  it s  constant "caTtsT where  the  death-rate 
is  highest,  and  in  which  the  largest  number  of  ju- 
venile arrests  is  made.  Here  are  the  centers  where 
disease,  destitution,  and  delinquency  breed  and  spread. 
Low  income  means  undernourishment  and  bad  hous- 
ing. Undernourishment  and  bad  housing  mean  weak- 
ened mothers  and  children.  They  make  it  easy  for 
the  saloon  to  succeed  in  its  assault  upon  the  fathers, 
and  for  the  street  with  its  gangs  and  its  vice  to  break 
down  the  control  of  the  mother  over  her  children.  A 
look  below  the  surface  of  things  in  the  survey  of  the 
city  of  Springfield  showed  clearly  how  low  wages 
and  irregular  employment  play  into  bad  housing,  child 
labor,  destitution,  neglected  childhood,  and  the  pre- 
disposition of  families  to  physical  and  often  moral 
breakdown.  The  knowledge  of  the  same  facts  in  New 
York  led  the  social  workers  to  ask  that  the  city  de- 
partments of  charities  and  health  and  the  police  de- 


84          THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

partment  should  investigate  wages,  because  workers 
in  each  of  these  departments  have  to  deal  with  the  re- 
sults of  low  wages. 

Tlue  Challenge  to  the  'Church.  This  same  challenge 
conies  to  the  people  who  are  interested  in  the  promo- 
tion of  religion.  If  low  income  is  a  source  of  delin- 
quency, if  it  leads  to  the  breakdown  of  morals,  the  re- 
ligious forces  must  be  interested  in  the  question.  In- 
vestigations in  several  countries  show  that  the 
armies  of  prostitution  are  drawn  predominantly  from 
the  families  of  low  income.  This  is  not  the  result  of 
a  sharp  choice  between  the  low  wages  of  virtue  and 
the  easy  money  and  high  living  of  vice.  Delinquency 
develops  not  so  much  from  an  immediate  pressure  as 
from  the  gradual  breakdown  of  the  individual  will  and 
of  family  morale  through  the  continuous  pressure 
of  monotonous  employment,  exhaustion,  undernour- 
ishment, and  the  overcrowding  of  bad  housing.  Or- 
ganized religion,  especially  through  its  home  mission- 
ary activities,  helps  some  individuals  and  some  fam- 
ilies to  rise  out  of  this  situation,  but  the  fight  is  too 
hard  for  the  average  individual.  Nowhere  in  history 
has  a  high  standard  of  religion  developed  among  pop- 
ulations that  have  been  forced  by  ignorance  or  by  pov- 
erty of  natural  resources  to  live  near  the  poverty*  line, 
to  struggle  arduously  and  constantly  for  the  bare  ne- 
cessities of  life.  The  culture  of  the  mind  and  spirit  de- 
mands adequate  material  resources ;  therefore  the  wise 
man  prayed,  "Give  me  neither  poverty  nor  riches,  but 
feed  me  with  food  sufficient  for  me."  For  that  reason 
a  leading  English  statesman  says  that  the  greatest  so- 
cial reform  of  all  is  to  raise  the  income  of  the  lowest- 


THE  PAY  ENVELOP  85 

paid  group.  The  church  people  who  are  trying  to  help 
the  poor  find  that  their  compassion  leads  them  to 
other  duties.  Willing  to  provide  relief,  they  are 
brought  face  to  face  with  the  necessity  of  permanently 
securing  an  adequate  income  for  the  low-paid  wage- 
earners.  Failing  this,  there  is  one  of  two  outcomes 
to  the  situation.  Either  that  section  of  the  popula- 
tion which  lives  upon  the  poverty  line,  weakened  by 
undernourishment,  enfeebled  by  disease,  corrupted  by 
delinquency,  drops  down  into  a  degenerate  group  like 
the  slum-dwellers  of  some  European  cities,  or  else 
they  break  forth  in  revolution,  and  society  is  rent 
apart.  To  meet  a  situation  of  widespread  low  income 
with  charity  and  churches,  but  without  working  out 
social  justice,  is  to  foster  the  destitution,  disease,  and 
delinquency  which  are  weakening  the  foundations  of 
the  community  house,  and  to  develop  the  sense  of  in- 
justice and  the  spirit  of  hatred  which  in  the  end  will 
tear  it  down. 

The  Answer  of  Religion.  One  of  the  teachings  of 
the  Hebrew  law  was  that  the  worker  must  receive  an 
adequate  maintenance.  When  Paul  writes  to  Timothy 
he  quotes  this  as  though  it  were  a  constant  custom. 
"The  harvestman  who  labors  in  the  field  must  be  the 
first  to  get  a  share  of  the  crop."  The  law  required  that 
even  the  dumb  beast  be  properly  fed.  "Thou  shalt  not 
muzzle  the  ox  when  he  treadeth  out  the  corn."  One  of 
the  purposes  of  the  Hebrew  law  was  "to  make  it  im- 
possible for  any  child  to  be  born  in  poverty."  It  has 
been  called  "the  poor  man's  charter."  It  constantly 
proclaimed  that  the  humblest  toilers  must  have  an 
adequate  living.  They  must  be  allowed  to  glean  the 


86          THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

fields  after  the  reapers  and  to  gather  the  volunteer 
crop  when  the  land  lay  fallow  in  the  seventh  year. 
At  sunset  the  rich  must  pay  their  wages,  that  the 
laborer  might  not  fall  into  debt  and  be  forced  to  sell 
himself  into  servitude.  All  his  debts  must  be  can- 
celed every  seventh  year  in  order  that  he  might  not 
be  permanently  enslaved,  and  for  the  same  reason 
the  slave  who  had  worked  out  his  term  must  be  pro- 
vided with  means  to  make  a  new  start  in  life.  The 
Hebrew  community  sought  to  observe  a  higher  law 
than  mere  "supply  and  demand,"  which  justifies  the 
buying  of  labor  as  cheaply  as  possible  and  constantly 
pushes  the  workers  down  to  the  lowest  standard  of 
living. 

An  Ancient  Ideal.  The  legislation  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment sought  to  take  the  law  of  mutual  aid  by  which 
the  family  lives,  out  into  the  work  life  of  the  com- 
munity. It  declared  that  the  whole  of  life  should  be 
organized  around  kindness  and  brotherhood.  It  in- 
sisted that  there  was  a  higher  law  than  competition 
and  profit;  and  that  first  the  life  of  the  worker  must 
be  considered  and  after  that  the  profit  of  the  employ- 
er. This  was  religious  statesmanship ;  it  attempted  to 
secure  decent  standards  of  living  and  the  highest  ideals 
of  life  for  all  the  members  of  the  community.  The 
people  looked  for  a  day  when  every  family  should 
dwell  under  its  own  vine  and  fig-tree  and  none  should 
hurt  them  nor  make  them  afraid ;  when  for  all  there 
should  be  security  of  possession  in  the  necessities  of 
life,  and  none  should  live  in  poverty.  The  first  step 
to  that  goal  is  the  provision  of  a  living  wage. 

Can  It  Be  Done?     Says  Mr.  Practical  Man,  "This 


THE  PAY  ENVELOP  87 

can't  be  done.  In  the  first  place,  there  isn't  enough 
to  go  around.  In  the  second  place  many  of  the 
workers  are  inefficient.  They  do  not  earn  their  salt." 
The  factor  of  inefficiency  has  to  be  reckoned  with.  It 
must  be  removed  and  our  whole  modern  educational 
program  and  religious  program  aims  to  remove  it. 
The  effort  to  improve  the  conditions  under  which  the 
workers  live  has  the  same  goal.  Workers  must  be 
made  to  earn  their  salt  or  they  cannot  be  supported 
by  the  community.  But  there  is  a  vicious  circle  here. 
Inefficiency  means  low  income  and  unemployment. 
Low  income  and  unemployment  mean  inefficiency,  be- 
cause they  involve  undernourished,  untrained  people. 
That  vicious  circle  must  be  cut  somewhere.  The  only 
place  to  start  is  to  give  the  worker  and  especially  his 
children  the  minimum  requirements  for  efficient  liv- 
ing, and  then  on  that  basis  to  build  up  the  strength 
and  ability  which  will  return  larger  services  to  the 
community  and  develop  for  itself  still  higher  standards 
of  living  and  the  ability  to  maintain  them. 

The  Social  Surplus.  It  is  now  some  years  since 
Professor  Simon  N.  Patten  wrote  his  book,  The  New 
Basis  of  Civilization,  to  show  that  mankind  has  at  last 
conquered  nature  and  is  able  to  make  it  furnish  an 
abundant  living  for  all  people.  For  untold  ages  civi- 
lization has  been  conducted  on  the  basis  of  a  deficit. 
There  were  not  enough  goods  to  go  round  and  pro- 
vide a  fair  standard  of  living  for  all.  Now  there  is 
sufficient  to  feed  all  hungry  mouths  and  provide 
proper  clothes  and  shelter  for  all.  When  Nearing  de- 
clared that  there  was  sufficient  income  being  produced 
in  the  United  States  to  provide  not  a  minimum  but  an 


This  Presbyterian  Church,  located  in  one  of  the  most  con- 
gested and  cosmopolitan  districts  in  New  York  City,  was  about 
to  be  abandoned,  when  in  1910  the  Board  of  Home  Missions  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church,  under  the  leadership  of  Rev.  Charles 
Stelsle,  reestablished  it  as  Labor  Temple.  Three  years  later,  the 
Presbytery  of  New  York  assumed  full  responsibility  through  its 
Home  Missions  Committee. 

Labor  Temple  in  all  its  activities  aims  to  interpret  the 
Christian  purpose  as  an  organising  principle  and  effective  power 
for  the  establishment  of  a  new  world.  It  stands  for  a  thorough- 
going and  constructive  criticism  of  our  present  social  and' indus- 
trial order  and  gives,  through  its  Open  Forum,  lecture  courses 
and  discussion  groups,  a  hearing  to  all  measures  or  programs  of 
reform  and  advance  that  hold  out  promise  for  a  better  world. 
Within  its  broad  program  is  included  the  American  International 
Church,  with  pastors  employing  the  English,  Russian,  Italian  and 
Hungarian  languages. 

During  the  severe  winter  of  1913,  Labor  Temple  was  used 
as  strike  headquarters  for  the  Jewish  and  Italian  girls  engaged 
in  the  white  goods  industry.  Because  of  its  sympathetic  under- 
standing with  both  sides  involved,  Labor  Temple  was  peculiarly 
fitted  to  deal  with  the  radical  outbreak  of  the  I.  W.  W.  against 
the  churches  of  New  York  in  the  winter  of 


1 


THE  PAY  ENVELOP  89 

efficiency  standard  of  living  for  all  families,  his  con- 
clusions were  doubted.  But  now  comes  Professor 
King  and  proves  beyond  a  peradventure  that  enough 
income  is  produced  in  the  United  States  to  give  $1,500 
per  year  to  every  family  living  in  the  nation.  Still 
the  multitudes  are  underfed  and  underclothed.  They 
build  and  do  not  inhabit,  they  sow  and  do  not  reap. 

Another  Problem.  Of  course  the  fact  that  we  are 
now  producing  enough  to  give  an  efficiency  standard 
to  all  families  does  not  mean  that  all  should  be  re- 
duced or  raised  to  that  standard.  It  does  mean,  how- 
ever, that  the  present  widespread  poverty  is  not  due, 
as  Mr.  Practical  Man  thinks,  to  inefficiency  in  pro- 
ducing goods,  but  it  is  due  to  inefficiency  in  ethics. 
We  are  making  enough  wealth  to  keep  all  our  people 
above  the  poverty  line.  What  we  need  now  is  to 
achieve  sufficient  morals  and  religion  to  enable  us  to/ 
do  justice.  To  diminish  the  hunger  of  the  world,  its 
ignorance,  its  disease,  it  is  essential  to  work  out  jus- 
tice in  distributing  the  results  of  the  common  toil.  If 
this  is  done,  large  numbers  of  families  will  be  set  free 
from  the  weakening  effects  of  the  inadequate  pay  en- 
velop, still  more  will  be  spurred  to  greater  efficiency 
by  the  fact  of  social  justice,  and  the  world's  goods 
will  be  increased  sufficiently  to  make  possible  for  all 
a  much  higher  standard  of  living  than  that  measured 
by  $1,500.  The  world  has  yet  to  learn  the  economics 
of  Jesus:  "Seek  ye  first  the  kingdom  of  God  and  his 
righteousness,  and  all  these  things* shall  be  added  unto 
you."  An  immediate  advance  in  that  search,  securing 
a  portion  of  the  promised  result,  is  a  larger  measure 
of  justice  in  the  distribution  of  the  common  income. 


90          THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

Who  Gets  the  Surplus?  The  greatest  reason  why 
so  many  of  the  workers  have  not  enough  to  live  on 
is  because  others  have  too  much.  The  increased 
wealth  of  the  nation  is  not  available  to  increase  the 
life  of  the  people.  In  1896  Spahr  showed  that  88  per 
cent,  of  the  people  had  less  than  65  per  cent,  of  the 
income.  In  1910  King  proved  that  the  same  number 
had  only  62  per  cent,  of  the  income.  Spahr  showed 
that  1.6  per  cent,  of  the  people  had  10.8  per  cent,  of 
the  income.  King  says  that  the  same  proportion  now 
has  19  per  cent,  of  the  income.  The  Federal  Commis- 
sion on  Industrial  Relations  divides  the  people  of  this 
country  into  three  sections:  the  rich,  who  constitute 
2  per  cent,  of  the  population  and  own  60  per  cent,  of 
the  wealth ;  the  middle  class,  constituting  33  per  cent, 
of  the  population  and  owning  35  per  cent,  of  the 
wealth;  the  poor,  who  make  up  65  per  cent,  of  the 
population  and  own  5  per  cent,  of  the  wealth.  The 
largest  private  fortune  in  the  United  States  equals  the 
aggregate  wealth  of  two  and  a  half  million  of  those 
classed  as  poor.  King  concludes  that  2  per  cent,  of 
the  people  own  considerably  more  property  than  the 
rest  of  the  population  and  that  most  of  the  wealth  is 
in  possession  of  one  fifth,  while  four  fifths  must  con- 
tent themselves  with  the  scraps  from  Dives'  table. 

Wages  and  Philanthropy.  A  weekly  market  letter 
concerning  investments  reports  that  a  certain  com- 
pany which  has  been  paying  from  25  to  57  per  cent, 
dividends  in  recent  years  is  paying  this  year  nearly 
100  per  cent,  on  the  entire  capitalization,  after  in- 
creasing it  250  per  cent,  by  an  additional  issue  of  stock 
without  cost. 


THE  PAY  ENVELOP  91 

A  pastor  reports  that  this  company  is  paying  its 
men  from  28  to  39  cents  per  hour  for  a  4&-hour  week, 
the  skilled  American  workers  averaging  36  cents.  This 
year  they  have  had  a  10-per-cent.  bonus;  but  even 
after  that,  their  income  does  not  measure  up  to  an 
efficiency  standard  of  family  living.  Yet  this  company 
does  some  first-class  "welfare  work"  for  its  em- 
ployees. A  similar  discrepancy  between  profits  and 
wages  is  evident  for  a  number  of  leading  corporations 
during  war  prosperity.  A  German  iron  and  steel 
works,  with  a  capital  of  26,000,000  marks,  made  a  net 
profit  in  1916-17  of  over  17,000,000  marks,  paying  a 
dividend  of  24  per  cent. 

Some  Contrasts.  In  some  of  the  industries  where 
girls  are  being  paid  less  than  a  living  wage,  officials 
are  receiving  salaries  of  $50,000  to  $100,000  a  year. 
Does  this  indicate  an  attempt  to  answer  justly  the 
question,  "What  should  be  paid  to  brains"?  You  say 
there  is  a  deeper  question?  Some  of  those  same  in- 
dustries have  recently  paid  dividends  running  all  the 
way  from  30  to  70  per  cent.  Does  this  indicate  an  at- 
tempt to  answer  justly  the  question,  "How  much 
should  go  to  capital  and  how  much  to  productive 
energy"?  The  average  wage  in  1914  in  the  manufactur- 
ing plants  of  this  country,  including  all  officials,  was 
about  $670  per  capita.  The  value  of  the  finished 
product  per  capita  was  about  $3,000.  Allowing  a  lib- 
eral estimate  for  the  value  of  raw  materials  and  all 
other  overhead  expenses,  it  appears  that  the  workers, 
including  the  managers,  received  only  about  40  per 
cent,  of  what  they  added  by  their  actual  labor  to  the 
value  of  the  raw  material.  The  rest  was  profit,  claimed 


92          THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

as  the  earnings  of  capital.  Nearing  has  shown  that 
there  is  a  larger  part  of  the  income  of  this  country 
going  to  property  owned  than  is  going  to  service  ren- 
dered. The  fact  of  ownership  now  counts  for  more 
in  this  country  than  the  fact  of  labor,  including  brains 
as  well  as  hands.  About  $6,000,000,000  now  goes  to 
the  account  of  property.  This  sum  would  raise  to 
the  efficiency  standard  of  living  12,000,000  families 
whose  average  expenditure  is  $500  or  less. 

The  Question  for  Religion.  Here  is  an  obvious  con- 
dition of  economic  injustice.  What  does  it  mean  for 
the  missionary  agencies  that  are  seeking  to  help  the 
suffering  poor?  In  their  work  they  are  now  brought 
face  to  face  with  the  ancient  fact  of  exploitation,  the 
time-honored  custom  of  the  powerful  to  make  the 
weaker  serve  them,  to  live  wholly  or  in  part  off  their 
labor.  In  such  a  situation  our  religion  has  ever  had 
an  aggressive  message.  The  Hebrew  law  attempted 
to  protect  the  producer  against  the  possessor.  The 
prophets  thundered  the  message  of  God  against  those, 
who  wrought  injustice.  They  cried  their  woes  upon 
those  who  built  their  houses  by  unrighteousness ;  who 
oppressed  the  hireling  in  his  wages;  who  built  up 
their  large  estates  and  their  fine  mansions  by  en- 
croaching upon  the  rights  of  the  free  people  and  im- 
poverishing their  lives.  "Woe  unto  them  that  join 
house  to  house,  that  lay  field  to  field."  "They  build  up 
Zion  with  blood,"  cries  Micah  with  bitterness. 

Amos  proclaims  the  fierce  judgment  of  eternal  jus- 
tice upon  those  who  stir  up  violence  and  robbery  in 
their  palaces,  who  "trample  upon  the  poor,  and  take 
exactions  from  him  of  wheat,"  who  "swallow  up  the 


THE  PAY  ENVELOP  93 

needy,  and  cause  the  poor  of  the  land  to  fail."  All 
the  prophets  declared  that  the  rich  could  find  no  ac- 
ceptance for  their  worship  in  the  temple  as  long  as 
these  conditions  obtained.  This  message  Jesus  ful- 
filled when  he  scourged  with  his  condemnation  the 
scribes  and  Pharisees  because  they  devoured  widows' 
houses  with  their  mortgages  and  laid  burdens  upon 
the  poor  which  they  themselves  would  not  lift,  by 
religious  requirements  which  added  to  their  profit  and 
the  impoverishment  of  the  workers.  Is  it  then  a  part 
of  the  missionary  duty  of  the  followers  of  Jesus  to 
carry  his  teachings  into  the  working  world  until  in- 
justice is  removed? 

Creating  the  Crisis.  When  the  workers  demand  a 
larger  income  it  must  be  remembered  that  Christianity 
has  had  a  large  part  in  creating  that  demand.  By  its 
promotion  of  education  it  continually  creates  higher 
standards  of  life.  One  result  of  its  preaching  has  been 
to  make  new  needs.  The  African  wants  clothes,  the 
miners  in  England  desire  books,  and  the  foreigners  in 
our  own  tenements  receive  new  ideals.  This  situa- 
tion is  not  to  be  met  by  simply  showing  some  men 
how  to  move  out  and  up.  There  is  increasingly  less 
room  at  the  top.  Only  a  few  can  be  superintendents. 
Life  must  be  made  more  bearable  for  those  at  the 
bottom.  "Whosoever  will"  must  operate  in  the  work- 
ing world  as  well  as  in  the  spiritual  realm.  Those 
who  seek  to  spread  such  a  gospel  are  making  obliga- 
tions for  themselves  to  carry  it  to  its  conclusion. 

More  Abundant  Life.  The  church  cannot  in  good 
conscience  arouse  the  people  to  seek  a  better  life  and 
then  leave  them  to  find  their  way  by  strife.  Largely 


94          THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

through  the  inspiration  and  stimulus  of  religion  the 
sons  of  immigrant  farmers  are  thronging  our  church 
colleges  and  our  state  universities.  Now  the  later  im- 
migrants in  the  cities  are  being  moved  with  the  same 
ideals.  For  them  it  will  be  a  longer,  slower  task. 
There  are  more  difficulties  to  overcome.  For  those 
who  came  first,  nature  had  provided  the  opportunity 
to  socure  better  standards  of  living.  For  those  \vho 
come  after,  it  will  have  to  be  provided  by  working 
out  justice  between  men.  As  the  church  has  helped 
provide  the  education  for  the  more  abundant  life,  will 
it  now  lead  in  securing  for  all  the  people  the  common 
brotherhood  of  love  which  is  the  obligation  and  ideal 
of  the  gospel? 

Seeking  for  Social  Justice.  The  spread  of  Chris- 
tianity has  done  more  than  to  raise  standards  of  liv- 
ing and  promote  industrial  unrest.  It  has  stirred  a 
quest  for  social  justice  on  the  part  of  the  people  who 
profit  by  injustice  as  well  as  those  who  suffer  from  it, 
the  like  of  which  has  never  before  been  seen  in  his- 
tory. On  the  one  hand  there  is  the  cry  and  protest 
of  the  working  class  and  the  movement  of  their  own 
trade  unions,  gaining  for  them  higher  wages  and 
shorter  hours  and  securing  increased  efficiency  of  life. 
On  the  other  hand  there  are  minimum-wage  laws 
passed  by  different  states  and  upheld  by  the  Supreme 
Court,  writing  into  modern  legislation  the  same  prin- 
ciples that  were  underneath  the  old  Hebrew  law.  Go- 
ing beyond  this  there  are  numerous  efforts  of  em- 
ployers and  investors  seeking  to  express  the  standards 
of  Christianity  in  industry.  Many  of  these  go  far 
beyond  philanthropic  welfare  work.  They  are  gen- 


THE  PAY  ENVELOP  95 

uine    attempts    to    realize    justice    and    brotherhood. 

Some  Results.  Recently  a  young  preacher  found 
himself  compelled  to  arouse  his  community  to  the  fact 
that  some  striking  immigrant  workers  were  not  re- 
ceiving a  living  wage.  Not  long  after,  one  of  the 
leading  employers  sent  for  the  preacher,  went  over 
his  whole  business  situation,  and  asked  him  what 
ought  to  be  done  about  it.  As  a  result  he  put  in  a 
minimum  wage  of  $3  a  day.  Over  800  American  firms 
are  now  practising  profit-sharing.  The  search  for  jus- 
tice is  widespread  in  our  modern  industrial  com- 
munity, and  it  brings  a  new  hope  to  the  working 
world.  It  is  a  foretaste  of  that  fuller  cooperation 
which  will  remove  all  injustice,  and  bind  men  to- 
gether as  fellow  workers  in  deed  and  truth. 

The  Task  Practical.  The  churches  which  have 
helped  develop  this  passion  for  justice  must  throw 
their  weight  behind  the  practical  measures  that  ex- 
press it.  They  can  support  minimum  wage  laws  and 
the  demand  of  organized  workers  for  an  adequate  liv- 
ing. They  may  instigate  profit-sharing.  They  can 
teach  their  people  what  justice  means  in  terms  of  in- 
come. Should  they  not  make  uncomfortable  those 
receiving  income  which  has  been  made  by  the  labor 
of  others  at  the  cost  of  low  standards  of  living?  If 
they  tell  their  members  to  support  home  missions  to 
carry  the  gospel  to  the  people  who  toil  and  suffer, 
must  they  not  show  them  how  to  change  the  condi- 
tions in  their  own  lives  that  now  block  its  approach 
to  those  workers?  When  a  business  man  objected  to, 
the  discussron  of  the  living  wage  in  the  church,  the 
preacher  took  him  and  showed  him  the  sick  girl  who 


96          THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

had  been  working  for  him  at  less  than  a  living  wage 
and  for  whom  the  church  was  caring.  He  made  him 
see  that  the  church  had  been  giving  charity  to  his 
business.  Then  that  man  was  willing  to  give  a  liv- 
ing wage  and  to  support  the  minimum  wage  law. 

The  Final  Issue.  If  social  justice  is  to  be  accom- 
plished, the  people  who  now  live  in  luxury  will  have 
to  be  content  with  a  smaller  income.  Said  a  business 
man  recently :  "I  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
folks  at  the  top  who  sit  in  mahogany  chairs  will  have 
.to  get  along  with  less  than  they  have  had  in  the  past." 
At  the  top  of  society,  luxury  produces  the  same  hu- 
man waste  that  poverty  does  at  the  bottom.  It  oc- 
casions disease,  develops  and  creates  false  standards 
of  living.  The  missionary  spirit  faces  a  task  at  both 
ends  of  society.  Do  the  people  in  the  church  want  to 
extend  the  gospel  ?  Then  must  they  do  what  the  gos- 
pel requires,  for  its  driving  power  is  always  its  ex- 
pression in  deed.  If  Christianity  is  to  reach  those 
who  suffer  in  the  region  of  poverty,  or  those  who  are 
getting  a  bare  efficiency  standard  by  constant  fight  and 
in  constant  fear,  it  must  show  them  its  demonstra- 
tion with  power  in  the  lives  of  those  who  profess  it. 
Are  the  people  in  the  churches  who  live  in  comfort 
willing  to  limit  their  own  desires  and  needs  in  order 
to  provide  the  means  of  development  for  others?  Are 
they  willing  to  enter  the  fellowship  of  the  sufferings 
of  Jesus?  Only  sacrificial  service  is  redemptive.  Noth- 
ing else  will  emancipate  the  people  from  poverty  and 
the  grip  of  Mammon,  that  they  may  be  free  to  work 
out  their  salvation. 


IV 

WAR  OR  PEACE 


Aim:  To  show  some  of  the  fads  and  causes  of  the 
industrial  conflict,  in  order  to  consider  what  is  the  duty 
of  organized  Christianity  in  regard  to  it. 


IV 

WAR  OR  PEACE 

A  Piece  of  News.  Soon  after  this  nation  entered 
the  Great  War,  its  newspapers  featured  a  dispatch 
from  Russia  describing  a  mass-meeting  of  working- 
men  in  Petrograd  at  which  the  United  States  was 
vehemently  denounced  and  which  ended  in  a  demon- 
stration against  the  American  embassy.  The  cause 
of  this  agitation  was  a  report  that  our  government 
had  executed  a  Socialist  leader  named  Muni.  The 
fact  behind  this  report  was  that  Tom  Mooney,  a  labor 
leader,  had  been  sentenced  to  death  in  a  Western  city, 
on  account  of  a  bomb  explosion  at  a  preparedness 
parade.  The  labor  forces  contended  that  he  was  in- 
nocent and  was  being  "put  away"  because  of  his 
effectiveness  in  a  very  bitter  labor  conflict.  A  few 
days  later  new  evidence  came  to  light  which  indi- 
cated perjured  testimony,  and  the  Attorney-general 
and  the  presiding  judge  both  requested  a  new  trial 
which  to  date  has  not  been  ordered,  despite  the  fact 
that  the  President's  Commission  has  recommended  it 
But  for  the  dramatic  news  from  revolutionary  Russia 
affecting  the  nation's  war  program,  the  majority  of  its 
well-to-do  citizens  would  probably  never  have  heard 
of  the  "Mooney  case"  which  was  stirring  the  labor 
world  to  its  depths. 

The  Long  War.  This  is  an  incident  in  the  war 
which  never  stops.  It  has  been  going  on  since  men 

99 


100        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

first  began  to  work  together.  It  bids  fair  to  continue 
after  governments  have  learned  to  settle  their  dis- 
putes by  some  other  method  than  fighting.  This  long 
war  is  the  strife  between  the  producer  and  the  pos- 
sessor. In  the  modern  industrial  world  it  takes  dra- 
matic form  in  the  conflict  between  capital  and  labor. 
History  is  full  of  the  record  of  this  struggle.  The 
story  of  the  Hebrew  nation  begins  in  the  rebellion  of 
that  people  against  the  labor  bondage  of  the  Egyp- 
tian oppressor.  The  Grecian  world  and  the  Roman 
Empire  were  rent  in  twain  by  slave  revolts.  Germany 
had  its  Peasants'  War,  England  its  rebel  workers  led 
by  Jack  Cade  and  Wat  Tyler.  To-day,  underneath 
the  placid  surface  of  industry,  the  struggle  continu- 
ously goes  on,  for  the  most  part  in  silence  and  with- 
out bloodshed,  but  never  without  suffering. 

The  Nature  of  the  Struggle.  The  basis  of  organiza- 
tion for  the  world  of  Work  is  that  of  struggle  between 
the  "have's"  and  the  "have-not's" — between  those  who 
have  not  a  fair  living  and  those  who  have  more  than  is 
good  for  them.  On  the  one  side  are  the  possessors 
seeking  ever  to  increase  their  income,  and  endeavoring 
to  effect  this  by  keeping  down  the  cost  of  production. 
On  the  other  side  are  the  producers,  who  have  little 
but  their  labor  power.  Unable  to  share  in  the  own- 
ership of  the  tools  necessary  for  the  making  of  goods, 
for  the  most  part  unable  to  acquire  property,  contin- 
ually finding  their  incomes  lessening  in  purchasing 
power,  their  constant  effort  is  to  push  up  the  cost  of 
labor.  Here  is  the  inherent  antagonism  that  exists 
in  the  world  of  work.  It  is  somewhat  similar  to  that 
which  Lincoln  saw  foreboding  the  Civil  War,  when  he 


WAR  OR  PEACE    '  101 

declared  that  as  long  as  an  irreconcilable  antagonism 
was  at  the  heart  of  the  nation  there  could  be  no  peace. 

Continuous  Conflict.  This  underlying  industrial 
conflict  continually  breaks  out  in  actual  strife.  Only 
those  who  read  the  press  of  the  labor  world  know  how 
constantly  the  battle  rages.  There  is  no  peace  in  the 
process  of  production.  The  goods  necessary  for  life 
are  made  in  the  constant  atmosphere  of  war.  The 
slogan  of  the  youngest  labor  organization  is  "Strike 
while  you  are  on  the  job !"  by  which  is  meant  that  the 
men  are  to  continue  at  work,  but  while  working,  are 
to  injure  the  employer  by  every  means  in  their  power, 
short  of  open  violence  and  the  actual  destruction  of 
goods.  Even  in  war  time  the  miners  in  England 
struck  because  they  saw  the  capitalists  getting  expess 
profits  at  their  expense,  and  the  munition  workers  of 
Berlin,  despite  all  the  autocratic  powers  of  military 
rule,  struck  because  of  the  lack  of  sufficient  food.  In 
the  last  few  months  in  four  states  of  this  country  there 
have  been  workers  on  trial  for  their  life  for  participa- 
tion in  labor  conflicts. 

In  September,  1917,  94  strikes  were  recorded  in  this 
country.  In  the  five  months  preceding  December, 
1917,  federal  investigators  have  gone  into  295  labor 
disputes,  as  compared  with  52  in  the  previous  five 
months.  One  of  our  visiting  English  commissioners 
declared  that  had  England  experienced  as  much  in- 
dustrial disturbance  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  as 
we  were  going  through,  she  would  have  been  beaten 
before  this. 

The  Mobilization.  The  armies  of  labor  and  capital 
are  increasingly  mobilized  for  conflict.  There  are  dif- 


102        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

ferent  types  of  labor  organizations  and  they  are  con- 
tinually at  odds  among  themselves,  disagreeing  con- 
cerning aims,  policies,  and  tactics.  There  are  various 
organizations  of  employers,  also  differing  in  goal  and 
method.  Gradually,  however,  the  forces  on  both  sides 
have  been  drawing  together  for  a  great  struggle 
around  a  central  issue.  There  has  been  evident  for 
some  time  a  widespread  attempt  of  organized  capi- 
tal in  the  United  States  to  crush  organized  labor.  In 
the  face  of  this  common  danger,  differences  between 
labor  organizations  are  submerged.  One  explanation 
of  the  outbreak  of  the  European  War  is  that  in  at  least 
two  countries  the  workers  were  ready  for  revolt,  and 
the  government  eagerly  seized  the  opportunity  to  di- 
vert their  attention.  But  for  the  commencement  of 
the  war,  the  United  States  would  have  entered  into 
the  greatest  labor  struggle  of  its  history.  The  forces 
were  mobilized  on  the  grandest  scale.  Their  equip- 
ment was  ready.  Their  fighting  spirit  was  up.  Each 
was  determined  to  win.  The  conflict  has  been  post- 
poned. It  has  not  been  settled.  The  two  antagonis- 
tic groups  still  have  their  fundamental  differences  un- 
reconciled. It  is  altogether  probable  that  at  the  close 
of  the  European  War  the  United  States  will  see  the 
greatest  period  of  labor  conflict  it  has  ever  experienced. 
A  recent  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  which  makes 
it  unlawful  for  trade  unions  to  attempt  to  organize 
workers  whose  employers  have  induced  them  to  sign 
a  contract  not  to  belong  to  a  union,  adds  fuel  to  the 
fires  of  unrest.  One  of  the  leading  labor  papers  de- 
clares: "It  is  the  opinion  of  men  who  have  their  fin- 
gers on  the  pulse  of  industry  and  who  sense  the  tern- 


WAR  OR  PEACE        '  103 

per  of  the  workers,  that  the  battle  between  capital 
and  labor  is  only  starting." 

Some  Recent  Battles.  In  the  last  few  years  the 
United  States  has  seen  three  types  of  labor  conflicts, ' 
involving  three  different  kinds  of  labor  organizations, 
but  sometimes  beginning  where  there  was  no  labor 
organization  whatever.  The  worst  of  these  have  oc- 
curred in  the  mining  industry,  in  the  Southeast,  in  the 
Middle  West,  and  in  the  far  West.  This  type  of  strug- 
gle has  involved  large  armies  of  organized  workers, 
and  in  one  case  practically  developed  into  civil  war, 
with  machine  guns  and  armored  cars  and  pitched  bat- 
tles. Another  group  of  conflicts  has  centered  around  A 
the  determination  of  the  workers  to  secure  the  right 
of  free  speech  upon  the  streets.  In  the  Southwest 
and  in  the  Northwest,  riots,  killings,  and  murder  trials 
have  developed  out  of  free-speech  fights.  This  kind 
of  struggle,  with  fatal  consequences,  has  occurred 
even  in  agricultural  communities,  but  the  two  gen- 
eral types  of  labor  war  above  described  have  appeared 
mostly  in  the  mining  and  lumber  industries.  Both  of 
them,  it  will  be  noted,  are  hard  and  hazardous  occu- 
pations requiring  men  to  work  under  abnormal  con- 
ditions, one  below  the  ground,  and  the  other  in  camps 
away  from  home  life  and  social  influences. 

Another  type  of  struggle  has  occurred  in  the  fac-  3  - 
tory  towns  of  the  East  and  the  Middle  West.  It  is 
the  spontaneous  revolt  of  unorganized  workers  against 
conditions  which  they  have  found  unbearable,  usually 
conditions  of  wages.  It  is  the  insufficiency  of  the  pay 
envelop  which  usually  leads  to  this  kind  of  outbreak. 
It  occurs  most  frequently  among  immigrants.  In 


TYPES  OF  LABOR  LEADERS 

1.  Woman's  Trade  Union  League  Officers. 

2.  Captain  Catsules.    A   leader   of   the   Strike   District  of 
Colorado. 

3.  Strike  Leaders  at  Lawrence,  Massachusetts. 


©  Underwood  and   Underwood. 


WAR  OR  PEACE  105 

thrtc  states  in  the  last  few  years  it  has  resulted  in  the 
killing  of  strikers,  of  innocent  bystanders,  and  of  men 
acting  under  official  authority.  To  these  conflicts  in 
which  loss  of  life  has  occurred  must  be  added  in- 
numerable labor  struggles  in  which  there  has  been  de- 
struction of  property  and  personal  violence,  where 
men  have  been  beaten  and  injured  but  nobody  has 
been  killed. 

A  Missionary  Challenge.  It  is  significant  for  home 
missions  that  all  these  types  of  labor  conflict  involve 
people  with  whom  the  Protestant  churches  have  little 
contact.  All  that  many  church  people  know  of  im- 
migrant strikers  is  what  they  read  in  the  papers. 
What  they  read  is  usually  an  account  of  the  violence 
that  has  occurred.  The  result  is  naturally  a  judgment 
of  condemnation.  It  is  significant,  however,  that  in 
the  typical  strikes  investigated  by  the  social  service 
commissions  of  the  churches,  most  of  them  accom- 
panied by  violence,  it  has  been  found  that  the  workers 
were  suffering  injustice.  These  reports  have  con- 
demned the  violence  that  developed,  but  they  have 
pointed  out  that  the  workers  had  wrongs  which  de- 
manded the  sympathy  and  action  of  the  churches. 

One  Situation.  Let  us  consider  now  a  small  strike 
of  immigrant  workers  in  which  violence  developed. 
In  less  than  twenty-four  "-hours  after  the  strike  was 
called  there  were  battles  between  the  strikers  and  the 
police.  In  two  weeks  there  were  three  people  dead, 
a  dozen  or  so  in  the  hospital,  property  had  been  de- 
stroyed, innocent  people  brutally  assaulted  by  both 
sides.  One  young  bride  was  killed  as  she  leaned  out 
of  an  upper  window  to  watch,  a  lawyer  was  killed  on 


106        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

the  street,  a  workman  of  uncertain  identity  was  killed 
as  he  walked  out  of  a  saloon.  Yet  here  is  how  it  be- 
gan :  "We,  the  employees  of  the  various  departments 
hereafter  named  present  the  following  amicable  re- 
quest, feeling  reasonably  certain  that  if  you  consider 
the  conditions  under  which  we  are  compelled  to  work, 
the  prices  which  we  are  now  compelled  to  pay  for  the 
commodities  of  life,  or  rather  for  the  means  of  sus- 
tenance, you  are  bound  to  realize  that  our  demand  is 
fair  and  reasonable."  There  then  followed  five  re- 
quests— not  demands,  but  requests:  a  raise  in  wages, 
and  the  eight-hour  day;  fairness  in  discharging;  hu- 
mane and  decent  treatment  at  the  hands  of  foremen, 
"instead  of  the  brutal  kicking  we  now  receive  without 
provocation";  twenty  minutes'  time  for  lunch.  And 
then :  "We  make  the  above  requests  in  a  peaceful  and 
amicable  manner,  without  threats  or  violence,  prefer- 
ring to  obtain  what  we  deem  is  justly  due  us  in  a 
friendly  and  peaceable  manner.  We  must,  however, 
state  that  unless  our  request  is  granted  within  forty- 
eight  hours,  we  will  be  compelled  to  strike."  This 
was  written  in  Polish,  and  translated  by  a  Lithuanian 
photographer  who  made  a  faithful  translation  and  did 
not  soften  the  language  of  the  strikers. 

How  Does  Violence  Develop?  This  does  not  sound 
turbulent  and  bloodthirsty,  yet  these  same  workers 
fifteen  months  before  had  been  in  a  strike  which  at- 
tracted country-wide  attention  because  of  its  violence 
and  bloodshed,  six  men  being  killed.  What  then  in- 
flames them?  Not  simply  the  low  wages,  but  accord- 
ing to  an  impartial  investigation,  the  treatment  of 
those  who  are  set  to  enforce  the  law.  A  metropoli- 


WAR  OR  PEACE  107 

tan  paper,  the  vigilant  enemy  of  organized  labor,  re- 
ports that  the  police  threatened  to  shoot  to  kill,  if  the 
strikers  did  not  "get  in !  keep  in !  and  stay  away  from 
the  windows!"  Organized  labor,  which  had  nothing 
to  do  with  the  strike,  insists  that  it  would  be  difficult 
to  imagine  a  situation  "more  completely  at  variance 
with  the  ideals  and  fundamental  principles  of  freedom 
and  a  republican  government  than  the  situation  created 
by  the  police/'  The  mayor  of  the  town,  according  to 
his  own  statement,  is  attorney  for  the  company  con- 
cerned in  the  strike.  The  police  as  usual  were  reen- 
forced  by  deputies  hurriedly  sworn  in.  The  mayor 
emphatically  endorsed  their  methods  of  dealing  with 
the  strike.  These  methods  forbade  the  strikers  even 
the  right  to  look  out  of  the  windows  or  to  circulate 
handbills  upon  the  street.  This  brutal,  repressive 
treatment,  added  to  the  facts  of  a  low  wage  and  in- 
creased cost  of  living,  in  which,  the  investigator  says, 
''there  is  always  dynamite,"  explains  the  violence. 

An  Underlying  Factor.  The  investigator  then  digs 
deeper.  He  says  the  issue  is  primarily  one  of  Ameri- 
canism. In  the  common  language  of  the  street,  "there 
are  two  classes  of  people  in  this  town :  white  men  and 
foreigners."  "It's  just  these  low-class  foreigners," 
said  a  newspaper  man.  "It's  not  peculiar  to  this  town ; 
it's  the  way  they  act  everywhere.  Remember  what  a 

terrible  time  they  had  in ?    Same  class  of 

people,  and  they  act  the  same  everywhere.*  As  a  mat- 
ter of  fact,  although  the  same  nationality — more  than 
10,000  of  them — was  on  strike  for  three  or  four  months 
in  the  town  referred  to,  the  same  investigator  is  au- 
thority for  the  statement  that  there  was  less  violence 


108        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

than  at  a  county  fair,  except  for  that  engaged  in  by 
police  and  detectives.  Said  one  policeman,  "It's  just 
a  case  of  these  fellows  making  too  much  money ;  when 
they've  got  a  little  money  in.  their  pockets,  they  just 
have  to  get  out  and  raise  hell."  "No,  we  are  not  say- 
ing that,"  saM  another;  "these  people  are  not  getting 
enough  money.  It's  on  account  of  a  lot  of  agitators 
coming  in  here  and  stirring  up  the  foreigners."  As 
a  matter  of  fact  the  investigator  found  that  the  men 
had  been  getting  for  a  full  working  year  less  than  the 
lowest  estimate  made  in  recent  years  as  absolutely 
necessary  to  support  a  workingman's  family.  The 
superintendent  said  his  company  was  paying  higher 
wages  than  those  of  others  except  one  which  was 
handling  war  orders,  but  this  is  small  comfort  for  the 
hungry.  Said  a  business  man,  "It's  a  case  of  the 
ignorant,  low-class  foreigner  making  trouble.  This  is 
an  orderly,  prosperous,  and  comfortable  town.  These 
fellows  live  over  there  by  themselves  and  refuse  to 
become  Americans.  They  live  in  dirt  and  filth  and 
hoard  their  money."  The  investigator  suggested 
that  it  was  a  neglected  part  of  the  town  where  the  im- 
migrants were  compelled  to  live,  where  insanitary  con- 
ditions prevailed  and  the  authorities  did  not  trouble 
themselves  about  the  matter.  "Nothing  to  it  at  all," 
was  the  reply;  "they  live  there  because  they  like  it. 
They  prefer  that  sort  of  thing.  Rents  are  high,  but 
they  prefer  to  stay  there  nevertheless."  Here  is  the 
question  raised  for  organized  religion  by  that  strike :  If 
it  had  taught  the  Americans  in  that  town  to  treat 
properly  and  care  for  their  brothers,  the  immigrants, 
would  this  violence  have  occurred? 


WAR  OR  PEACE  109 

Community  Results.  Such  a  situation  is  war,  and 
it  involves  all  the  horrors  of  war  for  the  community. 
It  develops  the  fear  and  terrorism  of  the  iron  hand. 
It  leaves  the  hatred  that  follows  after  the  exercise  of 
brute  force,  no  matter  which  side  uses  it,  and  usually 
both  sides  do  use  it.  In  such  a  community  there  are 
no  neutrals.  Everybody  takes  sides.  The  atmosphere 
is  one  of  suspicion  and  exaggeration.  Everything  is 
distorted.  Nobody  can  see  straight.  In  such  a  town 
where  the  strike  had  reached  the  extent  and  intensity 
of  civil  war,  a  member  of  the  citizens'  committee  was 
walking  down  the  street  one  night  ahead  of  a  minis- 
ter going  home  from  prayer-meeting  with  one  of  his 
leading  members.  The  so-called  good  citizen  suddenly 
raised  a  club  and  smashed  the  window  of  the  store  of 
a  lame  immigrant  cobbler. 

"Oh,  you  shouldn't  do  a  thing  like  that !"  said  the 
preacher. 

"He's  a  damn  sympathizer  with  the  strikers,  and 
that's  what  they'll  get  in  this  town  and  anybody  else 
who  raises  his  voice  for  them." 

On  the  other  hand  men  who  want  to  work  go  in 
terror  of  their  lives.  The  hatred  engendered  by  such 
a  situation  lingers  long. 

The  Evil  Lasts-.  In  a  Western  mining  community 
where  there  has  been  a  long  and  bitter  labor  con- 
flict, a  man  with  blistered  hands  and  feet  was  recently 
working  as  a  mucker  on  the  2,000-foot  level.  He  was 
formerly  a  minister  and  twice  mayor  of  the  city,  in 
which  capacity  he  had  prevented  illegal  acts  of  the 
mining  companies  against  the  strikers.  Practically 
every  other  man  identified  with  the  labor  side  of  the 


110        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

conflict  has  been  driven  from  the  community  because 
the  big  mine  companies  have  closed  all  avenues  of 
employment.  This  educated  man,  driven  out  of  office 
and  his  profession,  finally  found  a  job  as  day-laborer 
with  an  independent  company.  "Fm  remaining  as  a 
matter  of  principle  and  self-respect,"  he  said ;  "the  big 
fellows  have  cowed  many  men  in  this  district  and 
sent  them  away,  but  no  man  shall  drive  me  out.  It's 
great  to  live  here,  and  to-morrow  is  another  day." 

A  year  and  a  half  after  a  certain  strike  in  which 
there  was  some  violence  but  no  loss  of  life,  a  former 
striker  who  had  come  back  to  his  work  was  injured. 
He  was  being  carried  to  the  office  of  the  company  doc- 
tor when  he  recovered  consciousness.  The  physician 
along  with  other  officials  had  done  the  work  of  com- 
mon laborers  and  helped  the  company  to  win  the 
strike.  "Where  are  you  carrying  me?"  said  the  in- 
jured man.  They  told  him.  "Put  me  down.  I'll  die 
before  I'll  let  that  scab  touch  me!"  was  the  answer. 
This  is  the  situation  which  religion  has  to  face.  In- 
dustrial war  generates  brutality,  fear,  terrorism,  and 
hatred.  It  develops  a  poison  that  runs  through  the 
veins  of  the  community  and  makes  impossible  the  de- 
velopment of  the  compassion,  the  charity,  and  the 
brotherhood  for  which  Christianity  is  striving. 

The  Breakdown  of  Ethics.  It  is  useless  to  talk  of 
the  ethics  of  war,  for  war  destroys  all  ethical  prin- 
ciples. It  sanctions  killing  and  theft  Under  the  plea 
of  military  necessity  deeds  are  done  which  violate  all 
standards  of  morality.  The  same  condition  obtains  in 
a  strike  when  once  men's  blood  reaches  the  fighting 
point  Ordinary  restraints  cease  to  hold  them.  In 


WAR  OR  PEACE  111 

one  strike  in  which  most  of  the  employers  were  promi- 
nent Christian  men,  a  "red-light  district"  was  prac- 
tically established  within  the  plant  in  order  to  satisfy 
and  keep  quiet  the  strike-breakers.  On  the  other 
hand,  strikers  had  their  "educational  committee,"  to 
dissuade  people  by  the  use  of  violence  from  going  to 
work.  As  in  war,  both  sides  justify  such  tactics  on 
the  plea  that  they  must  win. 

Most  labor  leaders  continuously  and  sincerely  coun- 
sel their  followers  against  violence.  They  well  know 
that  it  alienates  the  public  sympathy  that  is  neces^ 
sary  to  the  success  of  their  cause.  Yet  the  pressure 
of  the  conflict  constantly  nullifies  their  efforts.  There 
are  but  few  cases  of  conspiracy  of  violence  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  American  labor  movement.  The  most  con- 
spicuous is  the  dynamite  conspiracy  of  some  leaders  of 
the  structural  steel-workers  which  culminated  in  the 
Los  Angeles  explosion  and  in  the  life  imprisonment 
of  those  responsible.  This  criminal  policy  was  the 
desperate  and  despairing  tactics  of  a  few  men  whose 
organization  was  being  destroyed  by  organized  capi- 
tal. It  is  nowhere  more  severely  condemned  and  re- 
gretted than-  in  the  labor  movement  itself. 

The  Breakdown  of  Law.  In  some  of  our  industrial 
conflicts  all  the  guaranties  of  liberty  under  our  con- 
stitution have  been  abrogated.  Martial  law  has  been 
proclaimed  and  has  replaced  all  civil  processes.  Those 
engaged  in  the  strike  have  been  denied  the  right  of 
habeas  corpus,  of  trial  by  jury,  or  even  of  communi- 
cation with  their  friends  after  they  have  been  ar- 
rested by  the  military  authorities.  In  one  notorious 
case  the  enforcement  of  the  law  was  in  the  hands  of 


112        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

officials  of  the  companies;  they  were  judge,  jury,  and 
executioner.  Concerning  similar  acts  by  the  same 
companies  in  a  later  strike,  the  supreme  court  of  that 
state  said:  "That  a  private  corporation,  with  its  pri- 
vately armed  forces,  may  violate  the  most  sacred  right 
of  the  citizenship  of  the  state  and  find  lawful  excuse 
in  the  plea  of  industrial  necessity,  savors  too  much  of 
anarchy  to  find  approval  by  courts  of  justice.  In  an- 
other recent  case  the  mayor  stated  on  the  stand,  "The 
Commercial  Club  took  my  authority  and  gave  it  to 

Sheriff ."    The  testimony  showed  that  the 

deputies  were  lined  up  at  the  Commercial  Club  and 
there  given  such  oath  of  office  as  they  took,  that  clubs 
were  bought  by  the  Commercial  Club  and  guns  kept 
there.  Its  minutes  show  that  the  doctrine  of  the  open 
shop,  which  the  Commercial  Club  was  fighting  for, 
was  presented  at  meetings  of  the  deputies  who  were 
supposed  to  be  impartially  representing  the  state.  All 
this  happened  before  any  members  of  the  labor  or- 
ganization involved  had  violated  any  ordinance  or  law, 
had  resisted  arrest  or  used  violence  toward  any  citi- 
zen or  officer. 

So  far  has  this  process  gone  that  a  most  conserva- 
tive judge  of  the  supreme  bench  of  a  conservative 
state  warns  the  people  that  if  it  continues  there  will 
be  no  liberty  left  to  the  people  of  the  United  States. 
It  is  a  matter  of  record  that  indictments  have  been 
secured  by  grand  juries  which  have  been  especially 
picked  from  those  who  were  openly  antagonistic  and 
hostile  to  the  labor  organizations  involved.  In  one 
case  a  special  judicial  district  was  created  in  order  to 
have  the  strike  leaders  tried  by  a  specially  appointed 


WAR  OR  PEACE  1113 

judge.  With  a  specially  selected  jury,  a  labor  leader 
was  condemned  to  life  imprisonment  by  that  judge. 
He  has  since  been  liberated,  and  the  judge  has  con- 
fessed error  in  the  case. 

Is  Justice  Blind?  In  several  recent  labor  conflicts 
not  only  strikers  but  innocent  bystanders  have  been 
brutally  assaulted  and  even  killed  by  guards  or  depu- 
ties employed  by  the  corporation.  In  only  one  case 
have  these  been  brought  to  trial.  Labor  leaders  have 
been  properly  tried  and  punished  for  deporting  other 
rival  labor  leaders,  but  no  capitalists  have  been  tried 
and  punished  for  deporting  labor  leaders,  though  this 
has  been  done  in  several  notorious  cases.  In  July, 
1917,  at  Bisbee,  Arizona,  1,186  strikers  were  herded 
into  cattle-  and  box-cars  by  an  armed  mob  and  dumped 
out  in  the  desert.  The  President's  Commission  reports 
that  this  was  without  justification  either  in  fact  or  in 
law  and  recommends  that  the  responsible  law  officers 
of  the  state  and  county  pursue  appropriate  remedies. 
The  governor  says  that  he  has  requested  the  attorney- 
general  of  the  state  to  act,  and  that  official  fails  to 
act. 

Recently  in  a  labor  conflict  a  prominent  churchman 
publicly  stated  that  the  way  to  settle  it  was  to  send  a 
few  ambulance-loads  of  strike  leaders  to  the  hospital. 
For  saying  less  than  that,  strike  leaders  have  been 
arrested  and  tried  for  complicity  in  murder,  because 
of  riot  which  originated  in  connection  with  a  strike, 
when  they  were  nowhere  near  the  place  at  the  time. 
Yet  no  charges  were  ever  brought  against  that  busi- 
ness leader  for  his  inflammatory  utterances. 

The  Deadly  Result.    The  result  of  such  cases  is  to 


114        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

develop  a  deep  distrust  of  the  law  among  the  industrial 
wage-earners.  Labor  papers  constantly  talk  about  the 
conviction  of  working  people  by  "perjured,  purchased 
testimony,"  about  witnesses  being  "bribed  or  bul- 
lied." They  declare  that  "big  business"  is  prepared 
to  go  to  any  length  in  order  to  "railroad  to  prison" 
the  open  champions  of  labor.  They  chronicle  the  fact 
that  the  underworld  is  scoured  for  witnesses  against 
them,  and  that  their  cases  are  tried  by  professional 
jurors.  The  result  is  a  growing  conviction  throughout 
the  labor  group  that  democracy  has  failed  them.  In 
such  a  situation  what  becomes  of  Christianity,  for  is 
not  democracy  an  expression  of  Christianity? 

i What  About  Religion?  A  study  of  church  condi- 
tions in  the  mining  regions  where  the  great  strikes 
have  occurred  showed  a  lamentable  failure  of  religious 
organizations  to  approach  the  immigrant  workers  with 
the  ministry  of  the  gospel.  The  same  thing  is  true  for 
the  immigrant  neighborhoods  where  the  spontaneous 
outbreaks  of  unorganized  workers  have  blazed  forth. 
If  Christianity  is  to  influence  such  a  situation,  the 
churches  must  support  an  aggressive  home  mission 
policy.  This  policy,  however,  must  do  something  more 
than  maintain  church  services.  It  must  understand 
and  reach  the  causes  of  industrial  conflict  before  it  de- 
velops into  war.  When  the  fight  has  once  reached  a 
certain  point,  religion  finds  itself  powerless.  No  more 
than  it  can  stem  the  war  of  the  battle-field  can  it  stay 
the  hate  of  a  labor  struggle.  For  twenty  years  a 
preacher  had  proclaimed  the  social  gospel.  Some  of 
his  leading  men  were  intent  on  crushing  the  local 
union.  He  urged  them  to  conciliate  the  matter  with 


WAR  OR  PEACE  115 

their  employees.  Once  he  succeeded,  but  again  they 
determined  to  "break  the  union."  Again  he  pleaded 
the  case  of  the  workers.  But  they  said,  "We  must  ask 
you  to  step  aside.  This  is  our  undertaking  and  we  are 
determined  to  do  it."  Religion  had  failed,  but  only  for 
the  moment.  Two  years  afterward  they  came  and  ad- 
mitted that  he  was  right;  the  gospel  had  prevailed. 
But  in  war  time  it  is  powerless  to  achieve  brother- 
hood. In  time  of  strike  the  churches  are  divided 
among  themselves  and  within  themselves.  According 
to  their  associations,  some  side  with  the  employers 
and  some  with  the  workers. 

The  Religion  of  Brotherhood.  If  the  church  would 
be  the  peacemaker  of  industry,  it  must  begin  its  work 
before  the  fight  begins.  It  must  study  situations  and 
conditions.  If  home  missions  desires  to  apply  the  gos- 
pel to  the  labor  conflict,  its  work  must  be  grounded 
in  a  patient  study  of  the  facts  and  problems  of  the 
industrial  world,  and  in  a  continuous  acquaintance 
with  the  workers.  Its  purpose  is  neither  to  excuse  nor 
condemn,  but  to  uncover  and  remove  the  causes  of 
conflict. 

Who  Is  Without  Sin?  In  considering  the  violence 
of  labor  struggles  it  must  be  remembered  that  the 
lawlessness  of  strikers  is  only  a  part  of  the  general 
lawlessness  of  the  American  people.  Ours  is  the  spirit 
of  extreme  personal  liberty.  We  want  to  do  as  we 
please.  Kipling  says  of  the  American  individualist; 
"He  makes  the  law  he  flouts,  and  then  he  flouts  the 
law  he  makes."  We  pass  laws  apparently  in  order 
to  break  them.  The  workers  have  had  a  long  educa- 
tion in  lawbreaking  and  law  evasion  by  watching  the 


116        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

methods  of  big  business  and  its  attorneys.  "They 
made  me  break  the  law  while  I  was  at  work  for  them," 
said  a  striker.  "When  I  protested,  they  said  it  was  a 
hell  of  a  law  anyway.  Now  I'm  on  strike,  they  want 
me  to  keep  the  law.  But  it's  my  turn  to  say  'To  hell 
with  the  law.'  "  In  one  of  the  greatest  labor  conflicts 
in  this  country,  five  out  of  the  seven  demands  of  the 
strikers  had  for  several  years  been  guaranteed  by  the 
laws  of  the  state,  but  the  employers  had  been  success- 
ful in  defying  or  evading  these  laws.  The  anarchism 
of  labor  has  grown  up  side  by  side  with  the  anarchism 
of  capital,  but  usually  a  little  after  it. 

Getting  Round  the  Law.  In  a  strike  of  retail  clerks 
in  a  great  city,  the  employer  said,  "They're  too  lazy 
to  work.  They're  the  kind  that  are  always  hanging 
around  the  corners  and  laughing  on  the  street.  They 
don't  know  what  they  want.  We  always  treat  our 
girls  right.  We  know  the  law."  And  upon  the  walls 
of  the  stores  there  were  copies  of  the  law  giving  the 
employees  fifty-four  hours'  work  for  women,  sixty  for 
men,  and  one  day  off  in  seven.  But  the  strikers  say 
that  they  don't  get  what  the  law  demands ;  that  while 
they're  off  eating  their  lunch,  the  boss  calls  "Cus- 
tomer!"; that  they  have  to  stay  after  hours  at  night 
if  there  is  a  customer,  and  the  day  of  the  week  on 
which  they  are  supposed  to  be  free,  they  are  expected 
at  the  store.  So  the  standards  which  are  supposed  to 
be  settled  by  the  law  are  now  to  be  won  by  the  strike. 

Ignorance  No  Excuse?  Not  all  of  the  lawlessness 
of  ignorant  immigrant  strikers  is  intentional.  In  a 
recent  case  where  the  state  law  required  that  thirty 
days'  notice  should  be  given  to  the  industrial  com- 


WAR  OR  PEACE  117 

mission  before  a  strike,  this  was  not  done.  The  gov- 
ernor, a  prominent  churchman,  gave  out  a  statement 
saying  that  the  strikers  were  guilty  of  "brazen  and  in- 
solent defiance"  of  the  provisions  of  the  industrial  law. 
But  when  the  Industrial  Commission  went  to  the  lo- 
cality, they  found  the  strikers  mostly  unnaturalized 
foreigners,  unable  to  speak  English ;  "in  all  probability 
they  had  never  heard  of  the  state  law."  Recognizing 
this  fact,  the  commission  did  not  seek  to  institute 
prosecution,  but  tried  to  persuade  the  men  to  go  back 
to  work  and  to  have  their  grievances  investigated  in  a 
lawful  manner.  In  four  days  the  commission  suc- 
ceeded, and  practically  all  of  the  men  returned  to 
work.  The  company  has  offered  to  adjust  every  griev- 
ance, except  wages,  as  the  commission  may  think  best, 
and  that  issue  is  now  under  investigation.  If  that 
governor  had  received  adequate  home  missionary  edu- 
cation concerning  the  number,  kinds,  locations,  occu- 
pations, and  needs  of  the  immigrants  of  his  state, 
would  he  have  made  that  mistake? 

The  Question  of  Attitude.  Both  the  beginning  of  a 
strike  and  the  engendering  of  the  spirit  that  leads  to 
violence  is  due  sometimes  to  the  attitude  of  labor  lead- 
ers and  sometimes  to  the  attitude  of  employers.  When 
Carroll  D.  Wright  was  head  of  the  United  States  Bu- 
reau of  Labor,  he  found  that  in  75  per  cent,  of  the 
strikes  the  employers  had  refused  arbitration.  Speak- 
ing to  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  November, 
1917,  the  first  time  a  President  of  the  United  States 
had  addressed  them,  Woodrow  Wilson  said:  "You 
sometimes  stop  the  courses  of  labor,  but  there  are 
others  who  do  the  same.  I  am  speaking  of  my  own 


118        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

experience  when  I  say  that  you  are  reasonable  in  a 
larger  number  of  cases  than-  the  capitalists."  A  strike 
recently  occurred  in  an  industry  in  which  some  of  the 
leading  firms  have  for  years  maintained  peace  with 
justice  by  settling  all  disputes  through  a  joint  com- 
mittee, on  which  the  workers  are  democratically  rep- 
resented. The  strikers  asked  the  manufacturers  in- 
volved to  meet  their  representatives  in  conference, 
offering  in  event  of  disagreement  to  submit  all  dis- 
putes to  an  impartial  arbitration  board.  The  employ- 
ers paid  no  attention  to  the  communication.  Their 
attorney  later  explained  that  they  would  not  dignify 
the  request  by  admitting  there  was  anything  to  arbi- 
trate. In  one  city  the  milk-wagon  drivers  recently 
struck,  asking  for  half  as  much  rest  a  month  as  is 
grven  the  horses  they  drive.  They  were  working  from 
twelve  to  eighteen  hours  a  day  for  365  days  a  year. 
The  president  of  the  company  told  the  board  that  one 
day  a  month  seemed  too  little  to  be  of  any  value  to  the 
men  and  that  a  summer  vacation  would  be  better.  So 
the  board  provided  that  all  drivers  who  had  been  with 
the  company  a  year  could  have  a  week's  vacation  with 
pay,  and  those  who  had  been  with  it  five  years  could 
have  two  weeks. 

"When  some  of  the  men  asked  me  if  I  would  let 
them  have  a  day  a  month  instead,"  said  the  president, 
"I  told  them  no.  I'd  do  as  I  damn  pleased."  Some- 
times employers  have  suffered  from  the  insolence  of 
an  unfit  labor  leader,  ordering  men  out  on  strike  to 
express  his  new-born  sense  of  authority,  but  they  are 
angered  when  their  own  insolence  produces  similar 
results. 


WAR  OR  PEACE  119 

"Why  do  you  object  to  a  union  man?"  the  manager 
was  asked. 

"We  own  these  mines  and  we  are  going  to  run 
them,"  he  answered.  "If  any  union  man  is  here,  it  is 
because  we  don't  know  it.  If  we  find  it  out,  he  will 
either  be  run  out  or  killed."  On  the  other  side  is  the 
same  attitude  of  some  union  leaders  and  union  men 
toward  non-union  men.  They  too  will  be  "run  out"  of 
the  community.  These  attitudes  are  not  typical  but 
they  are  responsible  for  a  great  deal  of  trouble.  They 
root  in  the  failure  to  recognize  men  as  brothers.  Have 
the  churches  any  teaching  to  spread  concerning  human 
relationships? 

Labor  Organizations.  An  employers'  association  re- 
cently charged  in  the  press  of  their  city  that  the  or- 
ganized workers  of  the  trade  were  demanding  a  raise 
in  wages  in  disregard  of  their  contract.  A  few  years 
since  another  local  of  the  same  union  got  the  labor 
forces  of  its  city  to  support  a  similar  demand,  but  the 
oldest  and  strongest  union  in  that  trade  refused  to 
support  any  contract-breaking.  Its  leader  said  to  the 
central  body  when  threatened  with  expulsion,  "You 
can  turn  us  out  if  you  want  to.  You  did  that  once 
before  on  this  issue,  and  you  were  glad  enough  to 
take  us  back.  So  you  will  be  again."  One  of  the 
leading  industries  of  this  country  has  suffered  much 
from  local  strikes  in  violation  of  the  general  contract 
made  with  the  union.  American  employers  have  often 
been  subjected  to  arbitrary  and  unreasonable  demands 
from  labor  leaders  who  were  both  unacquainted  and 
unsympathetic  with  the  difficulties  of  industrial  man- 
agement in  a  competitive  system.  Recently  a  mine 


War  material  confiscated  by  the  militia  in  a  West  Virginia 
coal  strike.  Six  machine  guns  were  taken  from  the  coal  opera- 
tors, 2,000  shotguns  and  rifles  and  nearly  250,000  rounds  of  am- 
munition were  captured.  The  revolvers  and  rifles  were  taken 
from  both  operators  and  miners. 

"It  was  an  ancient  task  of  religion  to  modify  the  clan-law 
of  blood  revenge.  Is  there  a  similar  task  awaiting  Christianity?" 


WAR  OR  PEACE  121 

owner  reported  1,100  workers  idle  and  at  least  7,000 
tons  of  coal  unmined  because  two  skilled  operators  de- 
manded an  extra  five  cents  an  hour  above  the  rate 
agreed  upon,  and  the  miners  struck  to  enforce  their 
demand. 

American  labor  has  inflicted  many  wrongs  upon  the 
public  because  it  has  endured  ignorant  and  unprinci- 
pled leadership.  Yet  an  unorganized  labor  world  in- 
volves even  worse  evils  in  its  condition  of  industrial 
anarchy. 

For  Example.  Recently  in  New  York  City  the  Na- 
tional Association  of  Manufacturers  enthusiastically 
applauded  an  appeal  to  engage  in  a  nation-wide  offen- 
sive against  the  American  Federation  of  Labor.  At 
that  very  moment,  with  national  and  international  des- 
tinies dependent  upon  the  nation's  food  supply,  thou- 
sands of  tons  cf  foodstuffs  were  going  to  waste  on  a 
railroad  pier  in  New  York  City  as  the  result  of  a  spon- 
taneous strike  among  the  longshoremen,  that  could  not 
be  adjusted  because  the  men  were  not  organized.  In 
the  early  days  of  a  union  it  usually  orders  a  number 
of  strikes.  As  the  organization  becomes  older,  the 
number  of  strikes  decreases.  Oftentimes  it  is  the  un- 
just demands  of  unprincipled  leaders  which  are  the 
occasion  of  industrial  disputes.  It  is  a  general  fact, 
however,  that  the  number  of  strikes  decreases  with 
the  age  and  extent  of  labor  organizations  in  a  given 
trade.  One  of  the  main  tasks  of  labor  leaders  is  to 
discourage  and  prevent  strikes  because  they  usually 
weaken  the  organization.  A  number  of  the  older 
unions  have  a  settled  policy  to  include  in  their  agree- 
ments with  employers  clauses  binding  themselves  to 


122        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

conciliation  and  arbitration  concerning  all  matters  of 
dispute.  On  the  other  hand  it  is  the  policy  of  the 
I.  W.  W,  to  carry  on  constant  guerilla  warfare  with 
the  employer.  They  will  make  no  agreements.  They 
will  strike  whenever  occasion  offers  the  opportunity 
to  get  advantage  for  themselves. 

Law  and  Order.  The  records  of  strikes  constantly 
show  violence  created  by  the  brutal  and  repressive 
action  of  those  sent  to  enforce  the  law.  In  such  cases 
the  community  itself  is  responsible  for  the  breakdown 
of  law  and  order.  This  does  not  mean  that  the  strikers 
were  without  blame,  but  it  does  mean  that  we  need 
to  face  the  question  that  Jesus  put  to  the  men  who 
brought  the  sinning  woman  to  him  in  the  temple.  In 
a  textile  strike  the  workers  were  enraged  because 
streams  of  ice-cold  water  were  turned  upon  them  from 
the  hose  in  zero  weather  in  order  to  disperse  those 
who  were  picketing  in  front  of  the  mills  and  singing 
as  they  marched.  In  a  recent  garment-workers'  strike, 
society  women  organized  in  order  to  protect  the  girls 
from  the  brutality  of  the  police.  When  a  prominent 
club-woman  was  jailed  by  mistake,  the  police  found 
themselves  in  trouble.  They  tried  to  let  her  go,  but 
she  insisted  on  standing  trial  and  making  public  their 
methods.  In  a  strike  parade  a  clergyman  seized  one 
end  of  the  banner  which  was  being  carried  by  the 
marchers,  because  the  girl  who  had  been  carrying  it 
had  been  brutally  pushed  over  by  the  police.  It  was 
a  banner  containing  a  phrase  from  the  Lord's  prayer. 
It  was  then  carried  unmolested  by  the  Christian  min- 
ister on  one  side  and  by  a  Jewish  garment-worker  on 
the  other. 


WAR  OR  PEACE  123 

In  another  city  a  moving-picture  operator  who  ac- 
companied a  squad  of  police  on  a  raid  into  a  strike 
territory  for  the  purpose  of  putting  respect  for  au- 
thority into  the  hearts  of  the  strikers,  said  concern- 
ing the  officers  in  charge:  "That  man is  a 

bird.  He  led  that  bunch  of  cops  in  there  and  put 
everybody  off  the  street.  Nobody  dared  to  say  a 
word  or  he  got  smashed  over  the  head.  A  fellow  was 
standing  in  a  doorway  and  just  made  a  kind  of  a  face 
and  said,  'This  is  a  fine  bunch/  or  something  like  that, 
and iaid  himi  out  with  the  butt  of  his  re- 
volver. The  man's  wife  came  to  the  door  and  threw 

her  arms  around to  protect  her  husband.  He 

just  grabbed  her  and  threw  her  bodily  back  through 
the  door.  I  have  a  peach  of  a  film  of  the  whole  thing." 

How  Murder  Comes.  In  another  strike  where  kill- 
ing occurred,  somebody  from  among  the  strikers  threw 
a  brick,  and  at  once  the  guards  begcn  to  fire.  The 
grand  jury  report  severely  censures  the  guards  who 
fired  into  the  crowd,  killing  three  men  and  wounding 
many  others,  and  states  that  they  were  not  of  such 
a  character  as  to  be  trusted  with  the  responsibility 
laid  upon  them.  Concerning  the  origin  of  the  violence 
the  report  says:  "While  one  shot  was  fired  from  one 
of  the  mob  assembled  round  the  gates  of  the  com- 
pany, the  shots  which  precipitated  the  extreme  acts 
of  lawlessness  and  crime  were  shots  fired  by  guards 
of  the  company."  In  such  situations  those  who  would 
to-day  spread  Christianity  may  well  remember  the 
words  of  one  of  its  first  missionaries :  "Sittest  thou  to 
judge  me  according  to  the  law  and  permittest  me  to  be 
struck  contrary  to  the  law?" 


124        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

Both  in  the  struggle  for  political  freedom  and  in  the 
struggle  for  industrial  democracy  it  is  a  historic  law 
that  violence  has  developed  in  direct  ratio  to  the 
brutal  and  repressive  methods  employed  by  those  in 
authority.  Since  the  New  York  police  under  the  or- 
ders of  a  new  type  of  commissioner  have  treated 
crowds  with  respect  yet  firmness,  and  permitted  free- 
dom of  speech,  there  has  been  practically  no  mob 
violence  in  New  York  City. 

The  "Gunmen."  The  name  "gunmen"  spreads  hate 
and  fear  throughout  the  labor  world.  It  means  not 
the  gunmen  of  city  gangs,  but  armed  guards  hired 
by  employers  in  time  of  strike  from  so-called  "private 
detective  agencies."  There  has  developed  in  this  coun- 
try a  widespread  business  organized  on  a  large  scale 
by  many  agencies  to  furnish  employers  with  men  who 
in  ordinary  times  will  act  as  spies  in  labor  organiza- 
tions and  in  time  of  trouble  as  strike-breakers  or 
guards.  This  business  has  even  reached  the  scale  of 
supplying  corporations  with  private  armies,  equipped 
to  make  war  with  machine  guns.  A  popular  maga- 
zine reports  that  one  such  agency  has  an  armory  in 
a  certain  city  with  1,100  rifles,  and  barracks  where 
guards  are  constantly  maintained,  drilled  and  trained. 
These  guards  are  usually  given  some  legal  authority, 
either  as  special  constables  or  as  deputies,  though  not 
infrequently  they  are  paid  by  the  employers.  Hired 
for  purposes  of  protection,  they  often  promote  aggres- 
sive warfare,  partly  for  love  of  the  game  and  partly 
to  create  business.  Like  the  police  agents  of  repressive 
European  governments,  they  have  been  proved  time 
and  time  again  to  promote  destruction  and  violence 


WAR  OR  PEACE  125 

themselves  in  order  to  discredit  strikers  and  to  make 
sure  their  own  salaries  and  profits.  They  are  the  death4 
ravens  of  the  modern  industrial  battle-field.  Wherever 
they  appear,  slaughter  begins.  In  most  of  our  recent 
labor  fights  that  have  been  attended  by  loss  of  life, 
the  trouble  started  with  murder  by  some  of  these  men. 
Testimony  before  commissions  and  courts  proves  these 
forces  to  be  mainly  composed  of  ex-convicts,  criminals, 
and  denizens  of  the  underworld,  with  a  sprinkling  of 
soldiers  of  fortune,  and  proves  also  that  they  have 
been  instructed  to  commit  assaults  and  even  to  kill 
union  men. 

A  Vicious  System.  As  long  ago  as  the  Homestead 
strike  in  1892,  a  Pennsylvania  senate  committee  de- 
clared the  hiring  of  armed  guards  to  be  an  utterly 
vicious  system,  responsible  for  much  of  the  ill  feeling 
and  bad  blood  displayed  by  the  working  class.  Pro- 
tected by  their  standing  as  officers  of  the  law,  gun- 
men have  committed  murder  with  impunity.  In  only 
one  strike  out  of  many  in  recent  years  in  which  this 
has  happened  have  they  been  brought  to  trial.  The 
result  is  retaliation  on  the  part  of  the  workingmen. 
Recently  in  a  public  meeting  in  an  Eastern  city,  a 
representative  of  the  I.  W.  W.  from  a  region  where 
a  strike  is  in  progress  was  describing  the  assaults  of 
the  gunmen  upon  the  strikers.  He  said,  "We  deter- 
mined it  should  be  an  eye  for  an  eye  and  a  tooth  for 
a  tooth,  but  when  after  that  one  of  our  men  was  bru- 
tally killed,  we  said  we  would  make  it  three  for  one, 
and  a  short  time  afterward  three  of  those  guards  dis- 
appeared. They  never  came  for  their  pay.  I  don't 
claim  to  know  what  happened  to  them,  but  I  do  know 


126        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

that  no  more  of  our  men  have  been  killed."  It  was 
an  ancient  task  of  religion  to  modify  the  clan  law 
of  blood  revenge.  Is  there  a  similar  task  awaiting 
modern  Christianity? 

A  Small  Strike.  In  one  mining  village  of  a  thou- 
sand people,  fifty  to  seventy-five  armed  guards  were 
recently  brought  in  by  the  employing  companies  and 
deputized.  They  declared  the  town  to  be  under  mar- 
tial law  and  arrogated  to  themselves  all  authority. 
They  refused  to  permit  the  village  officers  to  meet  or 
to  transact  business.  At  the  point  of  the  gun  they 
drove  from  the  town  the  president  of  the  board  and 
three  trustees  who  were  miners  and  active  anti-saloon 
men.  They  ordered  one  preacher  to  leave  town  be- 
cause he  spoke  in  sympathy  with  the  men  in  their 
effort  to  better  themselves.  One  old  lady  just  sitting 
down  to  supper  was  ordered  to  leave,  and  asked  per- 
mission to  finish  her  meal.  "Never  mind  the  eating. 
Get  out!"  was  the  answer.  The  strike  was  unorgan- 
ized, and  an  officer  of  the  union  went  to  investigate. 
He  was  an  Odd  Fellow  and  a  deacon  in  the  Baptist 
church.  He  was  ordered  not  to  stay  over  night.  He 
said  he  had  a  right  to  stay  and  proposed  to  remain. 
The  deputy  sheriff  admitted  it  but  begged  him  to  go 
because  he  said  he  could  not  control  the  gunmen.  The 
United  States  has  the  distinction  of  being  the  only 
nation  to  permit  private  armies  to  be  maintained  and 
to  exercise  the  functions  of  the  state.  This  traffic  in 
armed  guards  is  really  interstate  commerce  in  death. 
If  it  is  prohibited,  the  major  violence  of  our  industrial 
disputes  will  cease. 

The  churches  have  a  direct  interest  in  this  situation. 


WAR  OR  PEACE  127 

In  the  small  strike  above  referred  to,  two  churches 
were  broken  up.  To  the  minister  who  came  from  afar 
to  investigate  the  situation,  the  manager  of  the  com- 
pany was  extremely  courteous  until  he  discovered  that 
he  represented  the  church.  ''What  has  the  church 
to  do  with  it  anyway?"  he  said.  "There  was  a 
preacher  here,  who  went  to  shooting  off  his  mouth 
about  the  strike.  We  killed  off  his  church !  Then  he 
came  crawling  on  his  belly  to  us  to  help  him,  so  we 
gave  him  a  job  in  the  mine."  Will  home  missions 
answer  this  question,  "What  has  the  church  to  do 
with  it  anyway"? 

"Blessed  Are  the  Peacemakers."  How  shall  the 
churches  earn  the  blessing  of  the  beatitudes?  It  is 
idle  to  "cry  peace  when  there  is  no  peace."  The  pro- 
gram that  will  remove  the  immediate  occasions  of  vio- 
lence is  easy  to  see.  If  the  gunmen  on  the  one  hand 
and  the  labor  leaders  who  preach  violence  on  the 
other  are  controlled  by  even-handed  justice,  if  the  law 
is  administered  without  regard  to  rich  or  poor,  it  will 
be  respected  and  sustained.  If  the  Christian  element 
in  the  community  wants  law  and  order,  it  must  secure 
an  administraton  of  law  that  is  just.  But  can  the 
church  do  nothing  before  the  dispute  reaches  the  stage 
of  fighting?  What  message  is  there  which  will  reach 
underneath  the  situation?  Said  one  I.  W.  W.  leader 
to  the  writer,  "We  fellows  can't  put  anything  across 
until  conditions  are  rotten  enough  to  justify  it."  Has 
the  Christian  religion  a  message  which  will  reach  the 
rotten  conditions  before  the  violence  develops?  A 
committee  from  the  British  government  asked  a  labor 
leader  of  England  in  the  time  of  the  tranportation 


128        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

strike  when  the  island  was  forty-eight  hours  from  food 
shortage,  "Don't  you  care  anything  about  our  food 
supply?"  "We  care  no  more  for  your  food  supply 
while  we  are  on  strike  than  you  cared  for  ours  while 
we  were  at  work,"  was  the  answer.  Will  the  church 
then  find  out  the  conditions  that  lead  to  the  unrest 
of  labor?  Will  it  make  the  people  see  them  and  un- 
derstand them?  Will  it  demand  justice  as  the  proph- 
ets did,  as  Jesus  did  in  the  temple?  Will  it  preach 
to  the  weak  to  be  content  with  their  condition,  or  will 
it  preach  to  the  strong  to  work  righteousness  and  to 
the  weak  to  cooperate  with  them  in  the  search  for  it? 
The  Real  Prevention.  Underneath  the  immediate 
conditions  that  occasion  industrial  strife  is  the  fact 
that  the  industrial  world  is  organized  on  the  war 
basis.  The  apparently  peaceful  nature  of  so  much  oi 
the  working  world  is  misleading.  Deep  down  under 
its  placid  surface;  as  under  the  raging  storms  of  such 
incidents  as  are  herein  recorded,  there  lie  the  relations 
out  of  which  these  conflicts  arise.  With  these  the 
church  must  deal.  With  them  is  the  heart  of  its 
missionary  message  concerned. 


V 
NOT  BY  BREAD  ALONE 


Aim:  To  show  the  attitude  of  labor  toward  the 
church  and  toward  religion,  in  order  to  discover  what  are 
the  spiritual  needs  of  both  labor  and  capital. 


IV] 

/ 

NOT  BY  BREAD  ALONE 

The  Voice  of  Labor.  For  those  who  seek  to  make 
industry  Christian,  it  is  essential  to  find  out  what  the 
workers  think  about  it.  What  is  their  attitude  toward 
religion?  What  do  they  want  of  the  church?  For 
the  first  time  in  history  the  "silent  masses  of  man- 
kind" are  becoming  able  to  speak  for  themselves.  In 
the  past  they  have  been  unable  to  make  known  their 
point  of  view.  "Theirs  not  to  reason  why,  theirs  but 
to  work  and  die."  But  now  they  are  getting  educated 
and  are  expressing  their  desires  and  aspirations.  The 
development  of  self-consciousness  and  self-expression 
among  the  working  class  is  one  of  the  greatest  changes 
in  human  history.  It  involves  immeasurable  possibili- 
ties for  the  future  development  of  society  and  of  re- 
ligion. If  these  are  to  be  realized,  it  is  necessary  at  this 
point  for  the  church  to  listen  to  the  voice  of  labor. 

Who  Is  Labor?  The  average  workingman  is  not  very 
talkative.  He  will  not  speak  more  freely  about  his 
religious  interests  than  any  other  man.  He  is  not  in- 
clined to  talk  about  the  great  problems  of  the  work- 
ing world.  Usually  he  is  too  busy  to  think  much 
about  them.  There  are  leaders,  however,  who  have 
the  right  to  speak  for  him.  Just  as  it  is  the  organized 
Christians  in  religious  and  missionary  agencies  who 
think  the  most  about  the  problem  of  Christianizing  the 


132        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

world  because  they  are  working  at  it  the  hardest,  so 
it  is  the  organized  workers,  those  who  are  trying  to 
improve  the  working  world,  who  think  and  talk  the 
most  about  the  needs  of  labor.  The  people  who  are 
organized  into  labor  unions,  however,  are  composed 
of  just  about  as  many  different  kinds  of  people  as  will 
be  found  in  any  other  organization.  They  have  the 
same  variety  of  attitudes  toward  religion.  In  trying 
to  get  at  the  attitude  of  labor  toward  the  church  and 
religion  it  must  also  be  remembered  that  the  constitu- 
tion of  labor  unions  forbids  any  kind  of  religious  dis- 
crimination, even  the  discussion  of  any  question  of  re- 
ligious belief.  Therefore  the  opinions  of  leaders  are 
more  or  less  matters  of  personal  judgment. 

Labor  and  the  Church.  When  the  church  inquires 
concerning  the  religious  attitude  of  the  workers,  about 
the  first  question  it  asks  is:  "Do  they  go  to  church?" 
This  is  not  an  easy  question  to  answer.  No  statistics 
are  kept  either  by  the  labor  union  or  the  church  con- 
cerning church-membership  of  union  men;  conse- 
quently nothing  accurate  can  be  determined. 

There  are  some  churches  in  factory  neighborhoods 
which  are  crowded  with  workingmen.  There  are  other 
industrial  communities  where  only  a  very  small  pro- 
portion of  the  men  ever  cross  the  threshold  of  a 
church,  Protestant  or  Catholic.  In  a  Middle- Western 
churchgoing  community  a  preacher  went  through  a 
great  railroad  shop  employing  over  a  thousand  men. 
As  he  talked  with  them  he  was  told  that  there  were 
only  a  few  men  there  who  "gave  a  damn  for  the 
church."  In  recent  years  three  inquiries  have  been 
made  of  labor  leaders  concerning  the  attitude  of  union 


NOT  BY  BREAD  ALONE  133 

men  toward  the  churchl.  The  majority  of  these  lead- 
ers estimate  the  church-membership  among  the  men 
of  their  unions  at  from  5  to  40  per  cent.  A  good 
many  report  that  fewer  men  attend  the  churches  every 
year.  A  few  report  church  attendance  as  increasing, 
and  they  are  officers  of  small  unions  in  which  the  per- 
centage of  church-membership  is  very  high.  One  of 
them  writes  as  follows: 

"I  am  glad  to  see  the  church  waking  up  to  the  needs  of  the 
working  people.  They  need  the  love  of  Jesus  and  need  it  as 
much  as  wealth,  but  they  must  be  made  to  feel  that  those  who 
possess  wealth  are  not  measuring  them  by  their  clothes  and 
circumstances.  We  have  thousands  of  members  in  the  churches, 
and  in  some  places  they  are  the  sustaining  force  in  it.'* 

The  Rev.  H.  F.  Swartz  of  the  Congregational  Home 
Missionary  Society  concludes  from  a  study  of  the  Con- 
gregational churches  of  St.  Louis,  that  their  member- 
ship is  distributed  as  follows:  capitalist,  13  per  cent.; 
professional,  13  per  cent.;  clerical,  30  per  cent.;  labor, 
44  per  cent.  In  the  labor  group  are  included  many  who 
are  foremen  and  many  cases  in  which  the  wife  is  a 
church-member  and  the  husband  is  not.  -^ 

The  Rev.  Charles  Stelzle,  founder  of  Labor  Temple 
and   formerly   head   of   the    Presbyterian    Bureau   of      \ 
Church  and  Labor,  reports  that  the  result  of  his  inquiry 
showed   that  with  the  increased   intelligence  of  the      / 
workingman,  with  the  growth  of  his  interest  in  his     / 
own  organization  for  the  improvement  of  his  condi-   / 
tion,  his  interest  in  the  church  declines. 

This  is  a  matter  of  regret  to  many  of  the  leaders. 


inquiries  have  been  made  by  the  Rev.  Charles  Stelzle, 
by  Mr.  Bruce  Barton,  and  from  the  office  of  the  writer.  A  num- 
ber of  the  quotations  in  this  chapter  are  from  the  replies  to 
Mr.  Barton. 


134        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

Introducing  the  writer  at  a  labor  meeting,  the  presi- 
dent of  the  state  federation  said  to  the  men,  "I've  told 
you  before  what  I  think  about  the  church.  The  man 
who  doesn't  attend  the  union  meeting  has  no  right 
to  kick  about  what  it  does  or  doesn't  do.  It's  the 
same  way  with  the  church.  You  have  no  right  to 
kick  about  the  church's  not  helping  you  if  you  don't 
attend  and  support  it." 

Says  the  Workers'  World,  after  discussing  the  bene- 
fits of  churchgoing:  "W.e  want  to  go  to  church  all 
the  time,  but  confound  it,  the  preachers  won't  let  us." 
Does  this  mean  that  many  workers  are  like  many  capi- 
talists and  will  go  to  church  only  on  condition  that 
they  hear  certain  things  that  they  want  to  hear? 

Reason  or  Excuse?  A  Socialist  leader  and  a  trade 
union  leader,  one  of  Protestant,  the  other  of  Catholic 
antecedents,  were  addressing  a  union  meeting  of 
preachers  on  the  question  of  the  church  and  industry. 
In  the  course  of  their  remarks,  both  made  it  clear  that 
they  seldom  went  to  church  because  their  time  on 
Sunday  was  occupied  by  labor  meetings  and  they  felt 
they  were  doing  the  work  of  religion  in  thus  serving 
their  fellow  men.  Ask  the  average  workingman  why 
he  does  not  attend  church  more  frequently,  and  he 
will  tell  you  that  it  is  because  the  church  does  not 
interest  him.  Time  and  time  again,  in  different  parts 
of  the  country,  workingmen  have  said  to  me,  "If  the 
preachers  would  only  talk  more  about  the  things  that 
are  vital  to  us,  we  would  go.  The  churches  would  be 
filled."  "How  many  churches  are  there,"  asks  one 
leader,  "that  take  up  the  subject  of  Sabbath  rest?  Why 
do  they  not  bend  their  energies  toward  lightening  the 


NOT  BY  BREAD  ALONE  135 

burdens  of  the  toiler,  instead  of  merely  offering  a  spir- 
itual consolation  ?  Working  all  week  long  for  a  mere 
pittance  is  poor  preparation  for  a  Sunday  morning 
sermon  on  the  joys  of  the  hereafter." 

"Why  is  it,"  the  preacher  was  asked  at  the  labor 
meeting,  "that  the  best  Christian  makes  the  worst 
union  man?'*  The  questioner  had  in  mind  the  fact 
that  the  mere  attempt  to  gain  individual  salvation 
makes  men  selfish,  less  brotherly,  less  cooperative. 
But  on  the  other  hand  the  majority  of  labor  leaders 
agree  in.  the  sentiment  that  the  best  Christian,  if  he 
have  the  true  spirit  of  Christ,  makes  the  best  union 
man,  and  that  the  more  Christianity  there  is,  the  better 
chance  the  labor  movement  will  have. 

Stock  Objections.  A  summary  of  the  letters  of  labor 
leaders  concerning  the  church  brings  out  two  easy  gen- 
eralizations:  First,  the  church  and  the  preacher  are 
under  the  influence  of  money ;  next,  the  church  has  no 
vital  interest  in  the  worker  and  his  life.  What  they 
call  its  "alliance  with  predatory  wealth,"  and  its 
"coldness,"  constitute  the  stock  indictments  of  the 
church  by  workingmen. 

Here  are  some  quotations: 

"Unfortunately  a  majority  of  them  feel  that  they  cannot 
look  to  the  church  for  practical  sympathy  and  help  in  con- 
nection with  their  industrial  problems.'* 

"Failure  of  the  church  to  help  adjust  social  and  economic 
wrongs." 

"The  church  is  not  in  touch  with  democracy ;  its  members 
are  cold." 

"It  is  an  uphill  struggle  to  convince  the  masses  that  the 
church  is  not  out  of  sympathy  with  their  hopes  and  aspirations 
to  gain  a  higher  plane  of  civilization  for  themselves  and  their 
children." 

"The  general  sentiment  among  the  workers  is  that  the  church 
is  not  in  sympathy  with  them,  that  it  reserves  its  favors  for  the 


136        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

well-to-do  and  its  frowns  for  the  poor  devil  who  toils.  This 
sentiment  pertains  as  to  religion  generally,  without  regard  to 
sect  or  creed." 

"The  workers  feel  that  the  church  of  to-day,  like  the  church 
of  the  Master's  day,  is  arrayed  with  the  oppressors  of  the  com- 
mon people." 

Continuing  the  Indictment.  Here  is  still  another 
count  in  labor's  bill  of  grievances  against  the  church. 
It  deals  with  unfriendly  conduct  of  leading  church 
workers,  the  use  by  the  church  of  "unfair"  materials 
and  "unfair"  labor  in  its  building  and  in  its  printing, 
and  antagonistic  utterances  by  preachers.  In  some  of 
these  cases,  long  after  the  original  offense  has  been  re- 
moved and  atoned  for,  the  memory  of  it  still  persists. 
In  the  Lawrence  strike  and  in  the  Colorado  strike  par- 
ticularly, prominent  preachers  made  attacks  upon  la- 
bor which  were  widely  heralded  through  the  press  and 
which  the  labor  world  will  not  forget.  The  fact  that 
certain  religious  publishing  houses  refused  and  some 
still  refuse  to  grant  the  eight-hour  day  still  rankles  in 
the  feelings  of  labor.  There  is  only  slight  knowl- 
edge of  the  fact  that  in  the  past  few  years  most  of  the 
churches  have  taken  a  very  different  attitude  to  labor. 

Here  are  some  more  quotations  from  the  leaders : 

"The  workingman  has  constantly  before  him  the  example 
of  wealthy  employers  who  are  leading  members  of  the  church, 
and  in  whose  shops  conditions  are  deplorable  and  wages  held 
down  to  the  lowest  possible  level.  He  regards  the  average 
church  as  unfriendly  and  is  not  impressed  with  its  offers  of 
cooperation  when  he  sees  upon  its  board  of  trustees  wealthy 
manufacturers  who  have  no  sympathy  at  all  with  organized 
labor." 

"Sometimes  I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  the  church  is 
drawing  closer  to  the  laboring  man, — and  then,  at  the  moment 
when  my  faith  is  gaining  strength,  some  utterly  inexcusable 
thing  will  take  place  to  lead  me  to  doubt  whether  the  average 
church-member  can  ever  really  come  to  understand  the  attitude 


NOT  BY  BREAD  ALONE  137 

and  purposes  of  the  unions.  For  instance,  I  have  hardly  ever 
known  a  church  building  to  be  erected  where  there  was  not 
trouble  because  of  unfair  (non-union)  labor  and  unfair  ma- 
terials. The  average  clergyman  .seems  to  have  no  idea  of  true 
political  economy.  His  idea  is  to  get  everything  as  cheaply 
as  possible,  regardless  of  consequences.  It  is  a  matter  of  in- 
difference to  him  under  what  conditions  the  material  that  goes 
into  his  church  may  have  been  produced.  He  does  not  stop 
to  inquire  what  suffering  may  have  been  entailed  in  the  employ- 
ment of  cheap  labor.  This  patronage  of  unfair  material  and 
cheap  labor  also  applies  to  nearly  all  the  activities  of  the  church, 
as  for  instance,  printed  matter." 

"I  find  little  difference  in»  the  attitude  of  the  various 
churches  toward  organized  labor,"  says  the  president  of  a  union 
of  70,000.  "So  far  as  the  printing  business  is  considered,  prac- 
tically all  churches  have  their  printing  done  in  non-union  shops." 

"The  workers  are  of  the  opinion  that  church  institutions  are 
continually  seeking  to  secure  cheaper  labor  than  what  is  provided 
for  by  trade  union  agreements  with  employers,  or  in  other  words 
to  get  labor  belcwi  the  market  rate." 

Blocking  the  Gospel.  In  several  states  the  opposi- 
tion of  prominent  laymen  to  child-labor  laws  and  the 
refusal  or  failure  of  preachers  to  support  these  bills 
has  been  given  as  the  reason  for  the  opposition  of 
labor  to  the  church.  In  each  case  this  had  happened 
some  years  before.  Get  the  confidence  of  a  working- 
man  who  is  aggressively  hostile  to  religion,  and  in- 
evitably his  antagonism  goes  back  to  some  personal 
experience  of  the  repressive  attitude  of  great  ecclesias- 
tical organizations  or  the  unchristian  conduct  of  some 
prominent  church-member.  In  one  case  the  organ- 
ization, and  in  the  other,  the  individual,  professing  to 
represent  Jesus,  so  misrepresented  his  gospel  as  to 
block  the  approach  of  his  gospel  to  other  lives.  This 
is  the  heaviest  handicap  which  home  missionary  or- 
ganizations and  preachers  have  to  carry  in  their  ap- 
proach to  the  wage-earners.  The  pulpit  cannot  carry 


138        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

its  message  past  any  denial  of  it  in  the  lives  of  church- 
members.  Besides  this,  the  pulpit  is  continually 
blocking  its  own  approach  to  the  toilers. 

The  Voice  of  the  Pulpit.  The  pulpit  stands  preem- 
inently for  the  church,  especially  when  its  words  get 
into  the  newspapers.  Many  a  man  who  does  not  go 
to  church  gets  his  impression  of  the  attitude  of  the 
church  toward  social  questions  by  the  headlines  in 
the  Monday  morning  papers.  In  one  great  city  of 
this  country,  after  a  week  in  which  there  had  been 
bread  riots  because  the  poor  were  hungry,  with  the 
whole  labor  world  getting  desperate  over  the  price  of 
food,  these  were  some  of  the  topics  that  the  pulpit 
discussed :  "The  Borderland  of  the  Doubtful/'  "How 
Billy  Sunday  Does  Things/'  "Predestination/*  "Re- 
ligion and  Science,"  "Columbus,  the  Prophet  of  a 
Scientific  Faith,"  "Is  It  Possible  to  Reject  the  Writ- 
ings of  Moses  and  Still  Be  a  Christian?"  "What  Is 
the  Difference  Between  Eternal  Life  and  Eternal  Ex- 
istence?" Did  the  people  who  were  anxious  for  bread, 
who  needed  both  the  "bread  that  perisheth"  and  the 
bread  of  life,  get  a  stone?  Contrast  the  attitude  of 
Jesus  toward  the  hungry  people,  both  in  the  food  that 
he  gave  them  and  in  the  words  that  accompanied  the 
food. 

Said  a  labor  leader  recently  to  a  great  gathering  of 
church  leaders: 

"In  my  city  a  few  years  ago,  65,000  workers  were  on  strike, 
representing  with  their  families  about  300,000  people.  In  that 
industrial  upheaval,  practically  every  one  of  the  principles  of 
the  Social  Creed  of  the  Churches  was  involved:  bad  housing, 
poverty,  low  wages,  long  hours,  and  intolerable  conditions  of 
labor,  as  well  as  the  refusal  to  recognize  organized  labor.  Dur- 
ing the  eleven  weeks  of  that  strike  when  many  of  those  people 


NOT  BY  BREAD  ALONE  139 

were  walking  the  .streets  hungry  and  cold,  I  went  to  church 
twice  every  Sunday  and  heard  not  a  single  reference  to  that 
condition.  Can  you  blame  those  workers,  if  they  conclude  that 
the  church  is  against  them,  or  at  least  entirely  indifferent  to 
the  conditions  of  their  living?" 

Addressing  a  conference  of  ministers,  a  labor  leader 
gave  his  idea  of  a  sermon.  He  took  for  his  text,  "Be- 
hold the  hire  of  the  laborers  who  mowed  your  fields, 
which  is  of  you  kept  back  by  fraud,  crieth  out;  and 
the  cries  of  them  that  reaped  have  entered  into  the 
ears  of  the  Lord  of  Sabaoth"  (James  5.4).  He  then 
specified  the  conditions  of  the  workers  in  the  different 
industries,  the  packing  houses,  the  steel-mills,  the  cot- 
ton-mills, the  mines,  the  department  stores,  and  con- 
trasted these  conditions  with  evidences  of  luxury  and 
extravagance  on  the  part  of  the  few  who  possess  the 
millions  made  out  of  these  industries.  This  was  his 
conception  of  applying  the  gospel  to  modern  social 
conditions.  It  brought  the  truth  home  in  actual  facts. 
Was  this  what  the  apostles  and  Jesus  did? 

Without  Knowledge?  The  preacher  of  a  promi- 
nent church  read  a  magazine  article  about  the  revolu- 
tionary spirit  of  a  section  of  the  workers.  It  stirred 
him  so  that  the  next  Sunday  he  preached  a  sermon 
on  "The  Independent  Workers  of  the  World,"  to  the 
derision  of  every  workingman  and  many  other  think- 
ing people  of  that  city  who  knew  all  about  the  I. 
W.  W.,  whose  very  name  he  had  misquoted.  An  old 
war-horse  in  the  work  of  carrying  the  gospel  to  the 
homeless  seasonal  laborers  was  addressing  a  group  of 
preachers  who  were  keenly  anxious  to  help  the  work- 
ers. "Don't  get  up  and  say :  'I  can  sympathize  with 
the  honest  workingman.  My  hands  have  been  hard. 


140        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

I  worked  on  the  farm  as  a  boy/  They'll  put  you  down 
as  a  fool.  Above  all,  don't  say :  'I'm  a  friend  of  labor. 
I  stand  for  the  right  to  organize.  I  believe  in  the 
open  shop/  If  you  do  they'll  put  you  down  as  a  hypo- 
crite." He  was  emphasizing  the  need  of  knowledge. 
The  essential  of  a  successful  approach  to  the  labor 
world  is  the  study  of  its  conditions  and  movements. 
Some  three  years  ago,  a  religious  paper  printed  an 
article  about  different  labor  disturbances  then  cur- 
rent. It  charged  some  to  the  trade  unions,  some  to 
the  Socialists,  and  some  to  the  I.  W..  W.  It  then 
concluded  that  the  leaders  of  these  organizations  must 
get  together  at  stated  intervals  and  plan  such  things. 
Had  that  editor  known  the  labor  world,  he  would 
never  have  printed  such  nonsense,  because  bitter  is  the 
rivalry  and  even  the  strife  between  these  organizations. 
The  Need  of  Sympathy.  The  workers  have  a  right 
to  sympathy  from  the  church,  as  they  got  it  from 
Jesus.  Knowledge  and  sympathy  belong  together. 
Without  knowledge,  there  can  be  no  sound  sympathy. 
Without  sympathy,  there  can  be  no  true  understand- 
ing of  a  situation.  There  is  a  sympathy  that  is  par- 
tisan ;  there  is  another  that  leads  to  understanding  and 
fairness.  The  latter  is  what  labor  asks  of  the  church. 
A  preacher  complains  that,  being  asked  to  address  a 
labor  meeting,  he  replied  that  he  would  have  to  criti- 
cize as  well  as  praise  and  was  told,  "We  don't  want 
that ;  all  we  want  is  support."  I  have  addressed  many 
meetings  and  never  found  that  attitude.  I  have  found 
labor  meetings  more  tolerant  than  church  meetings  of 
criticism  straight  from  the  shoulder.  Workingmen 
are  more  used  to  handling  each  other's  faults  without 


NOT  BY  BREAD  ALONE  141 

gloves  than  are  church  people  and  preachers.  More 
than  once  I  have  been  told  by  labor  leaders  that  what 
they  expect  of  the  church  is  not  a  partisan  attitude, 
but  an  attempt  to  understand  the  labor  struggle  and 
to  apply  squarely  the  principles  of  the  gospel  to  it. 
Very  dispassionately  and  quite  impersonally  did  a  la- 
bor leader  unjustly  sentenced  to  life  imprisonment  (he 
has  since  been  released)  discuss  his  case.  There  was 
no  bitterness  against  his  persecution.  Then  he  said: 
"You  must  remember  I  am  speaking  from  one  side  of 
this  situation.  I  want  you  to  investigate  fully  and 
come  to  a  decision  based  on  all  the  facts.  I  am  not 
afraid  of  what  it  will  be." 

Deeds,  Not  Words.  Labor  properly  insists  on  judg- 
ing the  church,  not  simply  by  its  proclamations,  but 
by  its  actions.  When  the  "Social  Creed"  was 
adopted,  labor  leaders  said :  "This  is  the  biggest  thing 
the  churches  have  ever  done.  Now  we're  going  to  see 
if  you  really  mean  it."  Says  one  labor  paper:  "We 
become  accustomed  to  the  usual  set  of  resolutions, 
adopted  by  the  average  fraternal,  religious,  or  politi- 
cal organization,  and  reserve  our  judgment  till  we 
see  what  the  action  is.  Oftentimes  they  mean  little 
and  are  but  a  sop  to  the  more  advanced  thought  of 
the  day."  An  open  letter  from  the  labor  group  to 
the  clergymen  of  a  certain  city  makes  the  charge  that 
a  minister  who  is  superintendent  of  a  printing  com- 
pany publishing  a  religious  periodical  dismissed  his 
workmen  simply  and  solely  because  they  were  mem- 
bers of  the  trade  union,  even  though  they  volunteered 
to  make  a  settlement  with  him,  so  that  the  increased 
wages  of  the  union  scale  would  cost  the  company 


142        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

nothing.  In  another  city  some  labor  men  who  were 
prominent  in  organizing  a  new  church  asked  the  au- 
thorities of  a  certain  denomination  for  a  pastor  who 
would  also  work  among  the  labor  unions  of  that  city. 
The  reply  was  that  they  had  no  money  to  use  for 
church  extension  purposes  among  labor  organizations. 
A  college  professor  who  was  interested  in  the  situa- 
tion said  that  he  was  putting  aside  the  "Social  Creed" 
as  so  much  "bunk";  that  "in  so  far  as  the  local  de- 
nominations are  concerned,  the  attorneys  of  the  liquor 
interests  can  continue  to  be  the  chaplains  of  our  20,000 
to  30,000  labor  union  men/'  It  is  such  concrete  situa- 
tions that  largely  determine  the  attitude  of  labor  not 
only  toward  the  church  but  toward  religion. 

Making  Progress.  On  the  other  hand,  some  con- 
crete action  may  carry  the  gospel  far  into  the  group 
of  labor.  In  a  certain  strike  a  denominational  preach- 
ers' meeting  appointed  a  committee  to  investigate  the 
merits  of  the  controversy.  Its  report  was  favorable  to 
the  strikers  and  was  adopted.  One  of  the  mill-owners 
said  to  the  committee  that  it  was  "up  to  the  churches 
to  help  us  put  these  labor  unions  out  of  business  and 
drive  the  agitators  out  of  the  country."  Not  merely 
because  the  churches  took  the  side  of  the  workers,  but 
because  the  churches  took  the  position  that  it  was 
"impossible  to  maintain  a  neutral  attitude  where  moral 
questions  are  involved,  that  it  must  throw  its  influ- 
ence on  the  side  which  is  in  accord  with  the  principles 
of  the  Social  Creed,  whether  that  of  the  employers  or 
the  employees,"  a  new  attitude  toward  religion  was 
created  in  the  labor  group  of  that  community.  Says 
a  prominent  labor  leader: 


NOT  BY  BREAD  ALONE  143 

"It  was  a  sympathetic  sermon  preached  on  the  streets  which 
touched  me  when  I  was  out  of  employment  and  nearly  ready 
to  give  up,  and  brought  me  into  the  church.  I  am  certain  that 
t-he  church  has  made  great  strides  in  reaching  out  toward  the 
laborers  in  recent  years,  and  equally  sure  that  that  fact  is  not 
yet  appreciated  by  the  rank  and  file  of  union  men.  Too-  many 
of  them  still  charge  the  clergy  with  being  in  league  with  organ- 
ized wealth  for  the  purpose  of  oppression.  I  know  the  real  facts 
to  be  far  different.  Ministers  as  a  class  are  broad-minded,  sym- 
pathetic men  whose  salaries  are  small  and.  whose  calls  for  help 
are  many.  It  is  only  the  few,  »vho  receive  large  salaries  and 
are  pastors  of  fashionable  congregations  estranged  from  the 
common  people,  but  these  few  are  too  much  noticed;  they  give 
an  unfortunate  impression  of  the  whole  class.  For  myself,  I 
have  taken  the  trouble  to  investigate  the  charge  that  churches 
are  cold  and  unsympathetic,  and  I  must  say  that  in  no  church 
that  I  ever  entered  did  I  fail  to  receive  a  courteous  and  sym- 
pathetic reception." 

The  Preacher's  Opportunity.  There  are  few  men 
who  have  such  an  opportunity  as  the  preacher  to  know 
the  facts  of  the  labor  struggle,  to  understand  and  in- 
terpret it  to  the  community.  It  was  a  preacher  who 
vividly  described  to-  the  Federal  Commission  on  In- 
dust^ial  Relations  what  it  meant  to  live  in  a  com- 
munity dominated  by  a-  great  corporation  as  the  single 
employer.  He  had  tried,  he  said,  to  get  qualified 
school  voters  to  attend  a  school  election,  and  they  re- 
fused to  go  for  fear  they  might  antagonize  the  com- 
pany's interest.  It  was  the  preacher  of  the  only  Prot- 
estant church  in  a  great  industrial  community  com- 
posed of  immigrants  who  was  able  to  make  a  state 
industrial  commission  understand  exactly  what  seven - 
day  work  meant  to  those  immigrants.  He  knew  be- 
cause he  had  lived  with  them  and  had  come  to  under- 
stand their  lot  from  the  standpoint  of  the  gospel  and 
its  standards  of  social  justice. 

The  Other  Side.    There  is,  of  course,  a  section  of 


Leader  giving  instructions  to  youthful  picketers  in  strike  of 
the  messenger  boys  of  The  American  District  Telegraph  Com- 
pany and  the  Postal  Telegraph  and  Cable  Company. 


NOT  BY  BREAD  ALONE  145 

the  labor  world  that  is  hostile  to  the  church ;  that  says 
it  is  "not  of  Jesus" ;  "a  wolf  in  sheep- s  clothing" ;  "its 
only  purpose  is  to  acquire  power  and  wealth  in  this 
world."  There  is  a  type  of  labor  leader  who  would 
prefer  not  to  have  the  working  people  discuss  religion, 
lest  it  should  turn  aside  their  attention  from  the  ma- 
terial interests  which  the  union  is  trying  to  promote. 
He  thinks  that  "the  labor  movement  finds  its  power 
and  effectiveness  must  be  devoted  to  the  real  present 
problems  arising'  in  the  world  of  toil  and  practical 
affairs."  This  is  an  attempt  to  live  "by  bread  alone." 
And  of  course  there  are  plenty  of  men  not  in  the  ranks 
of  labor  who  are  making  the  same  mistake.  In  all 
such  people  it  is  the  duty  of  the  church  to  arouse  a 
consciousness  of  the  deeper  needs  of  the  spirit.  When 
the  Federal  Council  of  Churches  protested  before  the 
State  Industrial  Commission  of  New  York  against  a 
certain  company's  forcing  its  men  to  work  seven  days 
a  week,  a  labor  review  in  a  distant  city  declared  that 
the  purpose  of  the  movement  was  "not  because  the 
churches  wanted  men  to  cease  working  seven  days  in 
the  week,  but  because  they  wanted  the  people  to  go 
to  church  if  they  do  not  work  on  the  Sabbath.  They 
protest  in  the  hope  that  so  many  more  people  will  go 
to  church  if  they  do  not  work  on  the  Sabbath — not  be- 
cause they  think  men  should  work  only  six  days  in 
the  week.  They  never  think  of  that."  It  then  said 
that  the  clergy  need  to  learn  the  same  lesson  that  the 
average  business  man  is  getting,  namely,  "that  the 
best  returns  in  this  world  are  secured  by  serving 
others  without  thought  of  self." 

Turning  the  Tables.    Such  comments  are  based  on 


146        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

complete  ignorance  and  misunderstanding  of  the  atti- 
tude of  the  church.  Surely  the  church  has  a  right  to 
expect  of  -labor  leaders  the  same  intelligence,  and  sym- 
pathy that  they  expect  of  the  church.  The  church  is 
facing  the  whole  industrial  question  to-day  with  a  new 
missionary  purpose,  willing  to  serve  without  counting 
the  cost  of  service,  willing  to  lose  its  life  if  need  be, 
in  order  to  find  the  Kingdom.  The  fact  that  there 
should  be  widespread  ignorance  concerning  the  atti- 
tude and  action  of  the  churches  on  industrial  ques- 
tions indicates  a  lack  of  missionary  enterprise.  There 
is  needed  a  printed  propaganda  to  make  the  wage- 
earner  acquainted  with  the  social  interpretation  and 
application  of  the  gospel.  At  present  the  intellectual 
life  of  the  working  class  and  of  the  churches  has  little 
in-  common.  They  read  different  papers.  Their  opin- 
ions are  formed  by  different  influences.  The  pulpit 
is  bringing  this  aspect  of  the  gospel  to  the  middle  class 
and  the  capitalist,  and  in  many  instances  it  is  totally 
changing  their  point  of  view.  But  the  wage-earners 
are  mostly  at  home  reading  the  Sunday  papers,  the 
labor  papers,  or  the  Socialist  journals.  To  them  also 
the  gospel'  must  be  carried.  It  calls  for  an  aggressive 
propaganda  of  speech  and  press.  There  is  opportunity 
in  every  community  for  the  church  people  to  spread 
leaflets  as  the  socialists  distribute  their  material,  to 
send  speakers  to  the  labor  halls,  to  hold  meetings  on 
the  street  corners  and  in  other  public  places.  The 
good  news  must  be  carried  to  the  poor. 

More  Radical  Groups*.  So  far  we  have  beei\  talking 
about  organized  labor.  But  there  are  also  the  So- 
cialists. They  are  vitally  interested  in  religion,  either 


NOT  BY  BREAD  ALONE  14/ 

for  or  against  it,  for  there  has  long  been  a  division 
on  the  question  of  religion  among  the  Socialists  of 
this  country.  On  the  one  hand  there  has  been  an  ag- 
gressive propaganda  directed  against  religion.  It  has 
its  roots  in  an  incomplete  understanding  of  science, 
philosophy,  and  religion.  On  the  other  hand  there  is 
an  active  group  of  Christian  Socialists.  Between 
these  two  antagonistic  groups  a  truce  was  finally  de- 
clared on  the  basis  that  there  should  be  no  propa*- 
ganda  either  for  or  against  religion  under  official  So- 
cialist auspices;  that  religion  was  a  private  matter 
for  each  individual  to  determine  for  himself.  The 
Christian  Socialists  have  undertaken  the  twofold  task 
of  interpreting  Christianity  to  their  comrades  in  the 
Socialist  party  and  Socialism  to  their  fellow  workers 
in  the  churches.  , 

The  Syndicalists.  The  radical  left  wing  of  Socialism, 
which  is  most  vigorously  anti-religious,  merges  into 
syndicalism,  whose  organized  form  in  this  country  is 
the  I.  W.  W.  This  organization  wants  to  gather  all 
workers  into  one  big  union,  so  that  by  a  general  strike 
a  new  order  of  society  can  be  brought  about  in  which 
the  workers  themselves  will  by  their  cooperation  man- 
age all  the  affairs  of  society.  Everybody  will  be  a 
worker  and  there  will  be  no  need  for  government  as 
we  now  know  it.  Many  of  the  syndicalist  leaders  are 
radical  philosophers,  most  of  the  rank  and  file  are  low- 
paid,  exploited  workers,  immigrants  and  native-born, 
especially  from  the  seasonal  trades.  They  are  the 
nomads  of  our  industrial  world,  the  men  of  the  lumber 
and  construction  camps,  of  the  wheat-fields  and  the 
ice  harvest,  the  people  who  oftentimes  "have  not  where 


148        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

to  lay  their  heads."  Every  community  wants  them 
when  it  has  hard  and  dirty  work  to  do,  and  wants  to 
run  them  out  as  soon  as  it  is  done.  Because  of  their 
conditions  of  occupation,  their  scant  income,  their  con- 
stant travel,  they  have  little  or  no  church  connection. 
They  are  down  below  church-membership.  Their 
speakers  usually  proclaim  bitter  hostility  both  to  the 
church  and  to  religion.  Said  one  of  them :  "The  church 
is  built  to  house  a  ghost,  and  inside,  the  ghost  is  warm 
and  comfortable,  but  outside,  the  worker  hasn't  a  place 
to  sleep."  These  men  attack  the  church  because  they 
believe  it  to  be  entirely  in  the  grip  of  the  capitalist 
class,  and  they  attack  the  Christian  religion  because 
they  believe  that  it  teaches  contentment  with  condi- 
tions which  ought  to  be  removed ;  they  assert  that  it 
develops  a  psychology  of  fear,  that  its  influence  upon 
the  working  class  is  repressive,  whereas  the  workers 
need  to  revolt.  This  criticism  raises  a  fundamental 
question  concerning  the  nature  of  Christianity. 

Is  Christianity  Revolutionary?  At  a  shop-meeting 
the  men  pushed  forward  one  of  their  number  to  ask 
the  preacher  a  question.  "You've  bothered  us  long 
enough  with  your  questions,"  they  said.  "Now  here's 
a  man  who  can  answer  you.  Go  for  him !"  His  first 
question  was  theological.  His  second  was  this:  "Was 
Jesus  a  rebel?"  This  is  the  vital  issue  with  the  social 
radicals:  Is  Christianity  content  with  the  world  as  it 
is  or  does  it  demand  a  thoroughgoing  transformation? 
Is  it  working  for  reconstruction?  This  question  de- 
mands that  the  missionary  propaganda  search  its 
heart.  What  is  it  after?  To  build  churches,  to  in- 
crease Sunday-schools,  in  order  to  multiply  the  num- 


NOT  BY  BREAD  ALONE  149 

ber  of  saints  in  heaven?  Or  does  it  seek  to  make  the 
civilization  of  man  over  into  the  civilization  of  God, — 
to  transform  human  society  into  the  kingdom  of  God 
upon  the  earth,  in  order  that  thus  man  may  come  to 
know  God  and  enjoy  him  forever?  Is  Jesus  still  a 
rebel  against  civilization  as  he  finds  it?  If  his  pur- 
pose is  carried  out  in  human  society  will  the  things 
of  which  the  workers  complain  remain?  Will  there 
be  poverty  or  crime  or  war  or  preventable  disease? 
Will  there  be  bad  housing  and  a  big  death-rate?  Will 
there  be  starvation  wages  and  big  fortunes,  long  hours 
and  idleness?  When  Christianity  understands  its 
missionary  purpose,  it  finds  that  it  involves  the  com- 
plete transformation  of  the  whole  of  human  life,  in- 
dividual and  social.  With  the  evil  that  is  in  the  world 
there  can  be  neither  truce  nor  compromise.  There  is 
no  other  propaganda  for  social  reconstruction  which 
goes  so  far  or  demands  such  thoroughgoing  change  as 
the  propaganda  of  Jesus.  Here,  then,  is  a  point  of 
contact  between  the  churches  and  the  social  radicals. 
Starting  with  this  kindred  purpose  they  can  together 
consider  the  program  which  is  necessary  to  realize  it. 
Hunger  of  Soul.  The  attitude  of  radical  social 
groups  toward  the  church  must  not  be  confused  with 
their  attitude  toward  religion.  Both  attitudes  should 
be  carefully  scrutinized  for  indications  of  religious 
need.  Underlying  all  the  hostility  of  the  labor  world 
to  organized  religion  and  even  to  religion  itself,  there 
is  a  deep  religious  hunger.  It  comes  to  the  surface 
clearly  in  its  attitude  toward  Jesus.  The  old  story 
about  labor  conventions  hissing  the  church  and  ap- 
plauding Jesus  is  a  legend.  "I  have  never  known  any 


150        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

such  instance/'  say  labor  leaders.  Yet  there  is  a  sharp 
contrast  between  the  attitude  of  the  working  class 
toward  the  church  and  toward  Jesus.  "They  think 
that  he  belongs  to  them  in  a  special  sense,  because 
he  was  a  workhigman  first  and  a  preacher  afterwards," 
says  a  journalist  who  gathered  the  opinions  of  labor 
leaders  about  Jesus.  Here  are  some  of  the  answers : 

"As  for  the  workingman's  attitude  -toward  Jesus  of  Nazareth, 
I  have  never  met  one  who  did  not  hold  his  memory  in  reverence 
and  admire  his  teachings." 

"We  believe  that  he  was  the  great  Teacher  of  social  justice. 
The  workingman  gives  eager  reverence  to  that  teaching,  and  to 
the  Teacher,  as  being  a  sympathizer  and  fellow  worker  with 
him." 

"The  labor  union  man,  as  I  know  him,  thinks  of  Jesus  of 
Nazareth  with  the  same  deep  reverence  as  does  all  civilized 
humanity." 

"Of  course,  you  will  find  here  and  there  a  dissenter  or  a 
loud-mouthed  individual,  or  sometimes  two  or  three,  who  de- 
nounce all  things  pure  and  holy,  but  these  are  not  representative 
of  union  labor.  We  have  the  greatest  reverence  for  the  meek 
and  lowly  Nazarene.  ...  In  all  my  experience  I  have  never 
heard  anything  but  words  of  respect  and  reverence  at  the  name 
of  Jesus  Christ  in  assemblages  where  men  of  toil  are  gathered. 
We  admire  his  life  and  teachings.  We  constantly  quote  him 
and  believe  that  his  teachings  have  been  the  hope  and  caused  the 
advance  of  modern  civilization." 

"I  have  no  doubt  he  would  be  a  member  of  the  Carpenters' 
and  Joiners'  International  Union." 

"Unquestionably  he  would  be  with  us.  Was  he  not  a  work- 
ingman? Did  he  not  preach  the  gospel  of  discontent  to  his 
fellow  men?  Was  it  not  the  church  of  his  day  that  preferred 
the  charge  against  him,  'He  stirreth  up  the  people,  which  led 
to  his  crucifixion?  Surely,  he  belongs  to  us  and  would  be 
with  us." 

"What  the  churches  lose  sight  of  when  they  complain  be- 
cause we  do  not  attend  them,  is  the  fact  that  they  have  no  such 
news  to  preach  to  us  as  Jesus  had  for  the  workingman  of  his 
day.  They  forget  that  his  teaching  was  the  most  revolutionary, 
the  most  startling  that  had  ever  fallen  upon  the  ears  of  those 
oppressed  and  dispirited  people.  They  saw  before  them  a  car- 
penter, despised  by  the  upper  classes  like  themselves,  who  knew 


NOT  BY  BREAD  ALONE  151 

their  suffering  and  told  them  openly  that  the  day  of  deliverance 
was  at  hand  and  that  he  had  come  to  set  them  free." 

"Would  Jesus  be  a  member  of  the  modern  church?  He 
might,  but  he  would  be  as  busy  throwing  out  the  money-changers 
whose  god  is  the  dollar  as  he  was  when  he  was  on  earth." 

Their  Leader.  In  any  picture  of  the  upward  prog- 
ress of  the  toiling  multitudes  the  Carpenter  of  Naza- 
reth walks  in  front.  "Christ  hirnself  was  an  agitator 
killed  by  the  ruling  class  of  his  day,"  says  a  Christ- 
mas editorial  in  a  labor  paper,  and  therefore  claims  a 
"Merry  Christmas"  for  the  workers.  A  radical  So- 
cialist journal  recently  declared  that  "Jesus  was  the 
most  uncompromising  champion  of  the  revolutionary 
proletariat  that  the  world  has  ever  seen."  One  of  the 
most  prominent  national  Socialist  leaders  says  that 
Jesus  was  beyond  question  "the  greatest  moral  and 
spiritual  force  in  the  world — a  force  essentially  and 
uncompromisingly  revolutionary  and  makihg  unceas- 
ingly and  increasingly,  in  spite  of  all  attempts  to  di- 
vert and  corrupt  it,  for  the  kinship  of  faces,  the  de- 
mocracy of  nations,  and  the  brotherhood  of  men."  In 
an  I.  W.  W.  hall  on  the  Pacific  Coast  there  is  a  hand- 
made sign  which  reads,  "Jesus  was  the  greatest  hobo 
in  history."  It  is  not  irreverence,  it  is  a  claim  of  kin- 
ship. Says  the  Hobo  News,  "Our  great  brother  Jesus 
said  that  the  Son  of  man  has  nowhere  to  lay  his 
head."  Says  a  radical  journal,  "This  Jesus  was  a  real 
guy."  There  is  more  here  than  an  attempt  to  claim 
Jesus  in  support  of  a  propaganda.  There  is  a  feeling 
of  kinship,  not  simply  in  economic  conditions,  but  in 
needs  and  ideals.  The  people  at  the  bottom  feel  that 
the  changes  which  Jesus  demanded  in  human  society 
are  the  changes  which  their  interest  requires.  Here 


Evicted  strikers  and  families  living  in  the  street  in  Ipswich, 
Massachusetts.  The  tenements  were  owned  by  the  mill  people, 
who  declared  that  the  strikers  must  go  to  work  or  get  out  of 
the  tenements. 


NOT  BY  BREAD  ALONE  153 

is  the  ground  upon  which  the  missionary  program 
of  the  church  among  the  working  class  may  start. 
Here  is  fellow  feeling  and  understanding  to  begin 
with. 

Some  Religious  Elements.  In  the  labor  movement 
there  is  a  great  passion  for  brotherhood.  It  comes 
next  to  the  church  in  emphasizing  this  ideal  relation- 
ship. Many  of  its  leaders  feel  themselves  to  be  en- 
gaged in  a  religious  undertaking.  Said  a  labor  leader 
who  speaks  constantly  in  pulpits,  "As  trade  unionists 
we  feel  that  we  have  a  distinctive  mission  to  perform, 
•one  that  is  more  important  to  the  welfare  of  the 
masses  than  any  other  except  that  which  the  church 
undertakes."  Says  a  labor  journal,  "The  organized 
labor  movement  may  not  be  advocating  churchianity, 
but  it  is  preaching  practical  Christianity." 

The  president  of  one  of  the  very  large  unions  makes 
the  following  significant  statement: 

"We  are  finally  learning,  though  it  has  taken  us  a  good 
while,  that  much  of  the  program  of  the  labor  unions  parallels 
the  program  of  the  churches  and  can  only  be  made  effective 
with  the  cooperation  of  the  church.  The  labor  movement  as  a 
whole  stands  as  positively  for  the  moral  uplift  of  the  worker 
as  it  does  for  his  physical  or  financial  betterment  We  are 
striving  to  take  the  little  child  from  the  mine,  the  mill,  and  the 
factory,  and  place  him  in  the  home  or  on  the  playground;  we 
are  striving  to  take  the  mother  out  of  the  mill  and  place  her, 
too,  in  the  home,  where  she  will  have  opportunity  to  train  her 
sons  and  daughters  into  honored  and  respected  citizens.  To 
accomplish  this  we  must  have  the  cooperation  of  the  church  and 
the  clergy,  and  we  are  getting  it  in  increasing  measure  every 
year. 

"The  organized  labor  movement  is  to-day  doing  more  to 
Christianize  the  masses  than  is  the  church.  The  labor  movement 
is  not  telling  the  masses  that  this  life  is  a  vale  of  woe  and 
that  they  should  patiently  submit  to  hunger  and  misery  in  order 
that  they  may  gain  the  glories  of  a  heaven  hereafter.  It  is 
telling  them  that  this  glorious  world,  the  work  of  an  all-wise 


154        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

God,  is  full  to  overflowing  with  an  abundance  of  good  things, 
p-laced  there  by  the  Creator  for  his  children,  and  that  a  glimpse 
of  their  chances'  of  enjoying  the  glories  of  a  heaven  on  earth 
will  not  jeopardize  their  heaven  hereafter.  The  labor  move- 
ment is  not  telling  exploited  men,  women,  and  children  that 
they  ought  to  thank  God  for  their  lives  of  misery.  It  is  giving 
them  comfortable  homes,  plenty  of  food,  self-respect,  and  a 
host  of  other  things  that  draw,  their  hearts  heavenward  and 
constrain  them  to  thank  God  for  something  that  is  worth  thanks. 

"As  the  mission  of  the  church  is  to  save  humanity  from 
destroying  itself,  it  should  be  the  first  to  help  the  unions  in  their 
efforts  to  bring  about  better  working  conditions  for  the  masses." 

The  wider  the  organization,  the  more  far-reaching 
its  bond,  the  deeper  the  sense  of  brotherhood  it  de- 
velops among  its  members.  The  foreign  missionary 
movement  has  made  many  a  Christian  a  brother  to  all 
the  world.  Says  a  member  of  a  church,  "I  have  long 
been  a  labor  union  man  and  have  Suffered  suspicion 
in  the  church  because  of  it.  I  am  now  a  Socialist, 
because  the  labor  union  is  for  a  few  and  Socialism 
is  for  all."  Here  is  the  spirit  of  international  brother- 
hood that  is  inherent  in  Christianity  itself.  The  same 
spirit  is  found  in  still  fuller  measure  in  that  despised 
organization,  the  I.  W.  W.  With  all  its  dangerous 
tactics,  it  yet  has  this  vast  ideal  of  "solidarity."  It 
reaches  down  and  gathers  together  the  outcast  and  the 
rejected.  It  takes  them  in  without  distinction  of 
color  or  sex  or  creed  or  race.  It  has  a  splendid  dream 
of  binding  together  all  the  workers  of  the  earth  in 
one  great  cosmopolitan  organization.  This  dream 
is  a  religious  aspiration.  There  are  only  two 
places  where  the  great  vision  of  international  soli- 
darity is  found.  One  is  in  the  labor  movement  and  the 
other  in  the  Christian  church.  Do  they  have  the  same 


NOT  BY  BREAD  ALONE  155 

origin?  Will  they  move  to  the  same  goal?  Can  they 
be  welded  together?  Can  the  church  turn  its  dream 
of  solidarity  into  a  practical  fact  in  the  working 
world  ?  Each  of  these  dreams  has  something  the  other 
needs.  Said  a  Jewish  Socialist  to  a  preacher  who  was 
talking  with  him  on  the  train  and  used  the  word  God, 
"I  would  give  anything  if  I  could  only  be  sure  that 
God  had  something  to  do  with  our  meeting  to-night." 
Can  the  church  make  the  working  class  feel  that  God 
has  something  to  do  with  this  world  and  its  affairs? 
Can  it  make  him  real  in  the  lives  of  those  who  need 
Him  most? 

Possible  Cooperation.  To  what  extent  should  the 
church  actually  cooperate  with  labor?  Obviously  the 
first  duty  is  to  develop  acquaintance  and  mutual  un- 
derstanding. To  accomplish  this,  more  points  of  con- 
tact must  be  found.  One  method  is  the  exchange  of 
fraternal  delegates  between  the  ministerial  body  and 
the  labor  body — a  plan  first  proposed  by  the  Rev. 
Charles  Stelzle,  when  he  was  superintendent  of  the 
Presbyterian  Department  of  Church  and  Labor.  One 
minister  who  served  as  fraternal  delegate  to  the  cen- 
tral body  of  his  city  was  finally  sent  as  delegate  to 
the  state  federation  of  labor.  He  was  elected  its  presi- 
dent. His  influence  took  that  assembly  out  of  the 
control  of  the  liquor  interests.  In  a  Southern  city  the 
federation  of  trades,  declaring  that  they  are  "working 
for  the  betterment  of  the  human  race,"  recently  re- 
quested the  ministers  of  the  city  to  act  as  chaplains 
from  time  to  time,  changing  the  man  each  month,  "in 
order  to  bring  about  more  cordial  relations  and  a  bet- 
ter understanding."  Many  churches  are  establishing 


156        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

fraternal  contacts  between  their  brotherhoods  and  lo- 
cal labor  organizations.  One  reason  that  so  many  la- 
bor organizations  meet  in  halls  over  saloons  is  because 
there  is  no  other  place  where  they  can  afford  to  go. 
Labor  Temple  in  New  York,  a  Presbyterian  home  mis- 
sion enterprise,  houses  several  labor  organizations  for 
all  their  meetings.  Recently  the  Washington  Square 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  of  New  York,  offered  a 
meeting-place  to  the  Union  of  the  Feather  and  Artifi- 
cial Flower  Workers,  a  woman's  organization  mostly 
Italian.  Three  fourths  of  the  industry  is  carried  on 
in  that  neighborhood,  and  the  hospitality  of  the 
church  was  cordially  accepted,  as  the  workers  had 
been  compelled  to  journey  elsewhere  to  meet.  Such 
friendly  contacts  are  an  interpretation  of  the  gospel 
in  terms  of  deed — terms  which  labor  can  understand. 
Working  Together.  Friendly  contact  between 
churches  and  labor  bodies  should  develop  into  joint 
action  for  oommunity  welfare.  In  this  way  the  gospel 
can  be  worked  out  together  and  a  common  religious 
experience  developed.  The  first  joint  meeting  of  the 
ministerial  association  with  the  central  labor  body  of 
a  Western  city  to  hear  a  visiting  speaker  developed 
into  a  stormy  session.  The  labor  men  were  indig- 
nant because  they  had  been  refused  the  use  of  a 
church  auditorium  for  a  child  labor  meeting  addressed 
by  the  governor  of  the  state,  when  it  was  freely  rented 
for  other  purposes.  Also  a  bitter  and  ignorant  at- 
tack upon  Socialism  had  been  made  from  a  prominent 
pulpit.  It  looked  as  though  the  meeting  was  a  mis- 
take. Finally  the  visitor  said  to  the  labor  men,  "What 
is  next  on  your  program?" 


NOT  BY  BREAD  ALONE  157 

"We  are  going  to  get  some  home  life  for  the  city 
firemen;  they  are  allowed  to  leave  the  stations  for 
only  one  hour  in  twenty-four."  He  turned  to  the 
preachers,  "Don't  you  want  to  help  in  that?" 

"Certainly,  that's  inhuman."  And  a  joint  committee 
was  formed  at  once,  while  the  dead  past  buried  itself. 

It  goes  without  saying  that  the  same  cooperation 
should  be  given  to  any  other  group  who  are  truly 
working  for  human  welfare,  whether  it  be  the  social 
workers'  group,  or  the  chamber  of  commerce,  but 
joint  action  of  the  church  with  any  other  body  must 
cease  the  moment  that  group  departs  from  the  prin- 
ciples and  spirit  of  the  gospel.  Two  years  after  the 
meeting  above  described,  the  visitor  heard  from  a  pas- 
tor of  that  city  that,  as  one  of  its  results,  a  joint  com- 
mittee from  the  churches  and  labor  organizations  of 
the  state  and  from  the  state  grange  had  just  gone  to 
the  legislature  to  work  together  for  three  measures 
for  the  welfare  of  the  people,  and  that  for  the  first 
time  the  state  federation  of  labor  was  not  fighting  lo- 
cal option. 

In  Time  of  Strike.  Should  the  church  take  sides  in 
time  of  strike?  Jesus  and  the  prophets  were  with  the 
people  only  when  they  were  right,  and  against  them 
when  they  were  wrong.  How  can  their  example  be 
followed  to-day?  The  churches  through  the  Federal 
Council  and  by  denominational  action  have  adopted 
their  "Social  Creed,"  which  includes  industrial  stand- 
ards. When  industrial  disputes  occur,  they  can  be 
measured  in  terms  of  those  standards.  The  churches 
should  then  give  support  to  the  side  that  accepts  those 
principles  and  is  trying  to  carry  them  out.  They 


158        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

should  rebuke  the  side  which  is  acting  contrary  to 
those  principles.  The  Federal  Council  of  Churches 
has  followed  this  method  in  the  reports  it  has  issued 
concerning  several  typical  strikes.  It  has  criticized 
both  employers  and  employees.  It  has  supported  the 
demands  of  the  employees  when  they  have  been  just 
and  righteous.  The  Colorado  Conference  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  through  its  Social  Serv- 
ice Commission,  adopted  a  report  concerning  the 
famous  Colorado  strike  which  called  forth  this  state- 
ment from  the  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics  of  the 
state:  "I  must  certainly  congratulate  you  and  your 
associates  of  the  church  for  the  broad,  liberal,  and 
statesmanlike  views  which  you  take  on  this  unfor- 
tunate controversy  of  the  coal  strike."  On  the  same 
situation,  a  penetrating  report  was  prepared  by  the 
Rev.  Henry  A.  Atkinson,  secretary  of  the  Congre- 
gational Social  Service  Commission.  Both  these  re- 
ports severely  condemned  the  violence  of  the  strikers, 
but  they  also  condemned  the  violent  methods  and  the 
injustice  of  the  operators.  A  church  gathering  re- 
cently denounced  the  owners  of  mines  in  the  lead  dis- 
trict of  southeast  Missouri,  because  of  the  insanitary 
conditions,  the  wretched  hovels,  and  the  lack  of  a  liv- 
ing wage  which  kept  the  workers  and  their  families 
from  living  like  human  beings.  "We  cannot  hope  to 
make  Methodists  there,"  said  the  Rev.  E.  J.  Culp,  be- 
cause a  Methodist  believes  he  is  a  child  of  God,  and 
no  man  can  believe  he  is  a  child  of  God  and  live 
there."  In  two  cities  recently  the  churches  and  the 
preachers  supported  the  strikers  in  a  particular  in- 
dustry, because  the  employers  were  denying  a  living 


NOT  BY  BREAD  ALONE  159 

wage  and  refusing  arbitration,  both  of  which  are  re- 
quired by  the  Social  Creed  of  the  Churches. 

Preachers  Who  Made  Good.  In  a  Western  city  a 
preacher  who  had  served  as  chairman  of  the  board  to 
adjust  a  certain  strike  was  approached  by  the  leaders 
of  the  chamber  of  commerce  and  urged  to  use  his  in- 
fluence in  another  industrial  dispute  because,  as  they 
said,  "You  are  the  only  man  in  the  community  who 
will  be  listened  to  with  equal  respect  by  both  sides." 
Here  is  a  position  of  justice  and  fairness  which  can 
be  acquired  by  few  people  in  the  community.  Here 
was  a  missionary  opportunity  to  apply  the  gospel  far 
beyond  the  borders  of  the  church.  In  an  Eastern  com- 
munity a  young  preacher  became  aware  of  an  impend- 
ing strike  through  some  Italians  who  were  helping 
his  church  in  the  music.  He  learned  of  the  injustice 
of  the  situation  and  also  of  the  fact  that  the  strikers 
were  about  to  use  improper  methods.  He  used  his  in- 
fluence both  with  the  strikers  and  with  the  employers 
and  then  made  the  community  at  large  understand  the 
situation.  He  introduced  the  strikers  to  the  state 
board  of  arbitration  and  to  lawful  methods.  He  was 
also  able  to  induce  one  of  the  employers  to  increase 
the  wages.  In  another  community  the  preacher  in- 
vited the  leaders  of  the  I.  W,  W.  into  church  to  ex- 
plain their  position.  He  then  called  upon  the  com- 
munity to  come  and  hear.  The  result  was  a  different 
understanding  of  the  situation.  In  a  city  of  the  Pacific 
Coast  the  preachers,  led  by  a  bishop,  recently  took  a 
pronounced  stand  regarding  the  strike  of  the  workers 
in  the  restaurants  and  hotels,  because  of  the  injustice 
of  their  long  hours  of  work.  When  the  I.  W.  W/s 


160        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

entered  the  churches  in  New  York,  some  preachers 
shut  them  out.  One  preacher  took  them  in  and  ques- 
tioned them,  found  out  that  some  of  them  were  there 
simply  for  excitement,  separated  the  sheep  from  the 
goats,  fed  them  with  bread,  and  found  only  a  few 
half-loaves  left,  showing  that  the  men  were  actually 
hungry.  That  preacher,  who  criticized  sharply  the 
methods  of  the  I.  W.  W.  leaders,  came  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  there  was  one  great  wrong  at  the  bottom  of 
the  situation.  "In  the  midst  of  the  richest  city  on 
,  earth,  men  who  are  willing  to  work  are  evidently  hun- 
'  gry.  There  used  to  be  an  old  adage,  'Hunger  knows 
no  law/  Sometimes  the  ears  of  good  men  are  heavy 
that  they  cannot  hear ;  their  eyes  are  holden  that  they 
cannot  see ;  their  hearts  are  hard  that  they  cannot 
feel;  then  the  madman  and  the  jester  turn  prophet." 
Such  instances  multiply.  The  church  is  declaring  itself 
clearly  in  particular  instances  where  justice  is  on  the 
side  of  the  workers;  with  equal  clearness  is  it  turned 
against  their  program  when  their  demands  are  unjust 
or  their  conduct  is  unchristian.  It  brings  a  message 
of  judgment,  of  conviction  of  sin,  of  appeal  for  right- 
eousness and  for  justice.  It  proclaims  the  gospel 
through  application  to  concrete  conditions.  But  such 
utterances  require  an  understanding  of  the  facts,  a 
real  grasp  of  the  situation.  It  becomes  then  mission- 
ary work  to  study  the  facts  of  a  labor  contest  and  to 
measure  them  in  terms  of  the  ethics  of  Christianity. 
Some  Other  Voices.  Toward  such  a  program  what 
is  the  attitude  of  that  large  section  of  church-member- 
ship which  does  not  belong  to  labor?  There  are  some 
capitalists,  employers,  and  investors ;  there  is  the  great 


NOT  BY  BREAD  ALONE  161 

middle  class — professional  people,  small  business 
men,  managers,  and  office  workers;  there  is  the  great 
farming  class,  who  have  property  and  no  part  in  in- 
dustrial disputes,  nor  much  understanding  of  them. 
The  attitude  of  these  groups  to  the  church  and  its 
program  is  just  as  mixed  as  that  of  labor.  There  are 
some  who  want  the  pulpit  to  preach  "the  simple  gos- 
pel" ;  who  do  not  want  to  hear  things  on  Sunday  that 
refer  to  the  struggles  of  the  week.  They  come  to 
church  to  be  soothed  and  comforted,  to  be  inspired  and 
helped.  Why  should  they  be  disturbed  with  matters 
of  current  controversy?  One  wealthy  man  recently 
left  his  church  because  he  did  not  care  to  hear  such 
things  discussed  at  all,  even  in  the  calmest  spirit.  Of 
course  such  topics  should  not  be  discussed  all  the 
time.  They  are  only  a  part  of  life  and  a  part  of  the 
gospel.  The  gospel  must  minister  to  the  needs  of  the 
inner  life,  but  oftentimes  it  can  only  do  it  as  Jesus 
and  the  prophets  did  it,  through  dealing  with  grear 
public  matters.  There  are  many  men  like  the  em- 
ployer who  objected  to  the  discussion  of  the  living 
wage  in  church  and  who  was  shown  by  the  preacher 
the  needs  of  his  own  employees  who  were  getting  less 
than  a  living  wage.  He  was  thereby  converted, 
agreed  to  put  in  a  minimum  wage  in  his  own  store, 
and  assisted  in  passing  the  needed  legislation. 

There  is  an  increasing  number  of  people  among  the 
owners  and  managers  of  industry,  among  professional 
men  and  women,  among  business  men,  office  workers, 
and  farmers,  who  are  desiring  to  know  the  whole 
counsel  of  God  in  this  matter.  They  want  to  be 
Christians.  They  want  to  right  the  wrongs  of  their 


162        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

brother  man,  no  matter  what  the  cost  may  be.  They 
are  ready  to  go  to  the  limit  in  following  Jesus,  once 
they  see  the  road.  They  are  seeking  to  know  how  to 
use  their  money  and  their  energies  in  making  society 
Christian,  no  matter  what  changes  may  be  required. 
To  this  group  the  missionary  message  must  be  one 
of  service  and  sacrifice.  Upon  the  willingness  of  those 
in  power  and  possession  to  consider  the  needs  of  the 
poor  and  to  work  out  justice  will  depend  whether  or 
not  we  shall  get  the  transformation  of  society  without 
violence.  This  heavy  responsibility  is  placed  upon 
those  responsible  for  the  Christian  propaganda. 

The  Common  Need.  Far  more  fundamental  than 
the  question  of  what  capital  and  labor  want  of  the 
church  is  the  question  of  what  they  need  from  the 
church.  These  needs  are  mutual.  It  is  because  they 
seek  to  live  by  bread  alone  that  their  interests  are 
now  antagonistic.  When  they  learn  that  they  cannot 
live  by  bread  alone,  then  they  will  discover  the  in- 
terdependence of  all  kinds  of  workers.  Since  none 
can  live  without  bread,  therefore  must  all  find  how 
to  make  their  bread  together  so  that  it  will  produce 
the  spiritual  life,  so  that  there  will  be  food  and 
clothes  and  shelter  and  education  and  soul-life  for  all. 
To  teach  this  to  the  world  is  the  pressing  business  of 
the  church.  The  world  needs  a  social  religion — a  re- 
ligion dealing  with  all  the  business  of  life,  including 
every  interest,  covering  work  as  well  as  prayer,  and 
which  will  be  just  as  vital  in  the  factory,  the  shop,  and 
the  mine  as  in  the  home  or  the  church.  To  discover 
such  a  religion,  to  work  it  out  in  all  the  aspects  of  life, 
is  the  missionary  venture  of  this  generation  of  Christians. 


VI 

MASTER  AND  MAN" 


Aim:  To  show  the  changes  which  Christianity  re- 
quires in  the  relations  between  those  who  work  for  wages 
and  those  who  own  and  manage. 


VI 

MASTER  AND  MAN 

A  Superior  Being.  Recently  the  employees  of  a 
public  service  corporation  of  a  great  city  asked  the 
company  for  some  improvements  in  working  condi- 
tions. The  company  refused.  The  petitioners  then 
requested  that  the  matter  be  arbitrated.  To  this  the 
president  replied :  "When  I  go  home  at  night  I  do  not 
arbitrate  with  my  cook  what  I  shall  have  for  dinner, 
because  my  cook  is  my  servant.  You  too  are  my  serv- 
ants. I  will  not  arbitrate  with  my  servants."  Was 
this  a  Christian  attitude?  To  what  extent  is  such  an 
attitude  responsible  for  our  labor  difficulties? 

Fellow.  Workers.  An  interesting  attitude  was  re- 
vealed in  the  replies  to  a  recent  inquiry  concerning 
their  motives  to  employers  who  had  granted  the  eight- 
hour  day.  Many  of  the  replies  spoke  of  the  wage- 
earners  as  "our  men,"  "our  people,"  "the  people  in  our 
employ."  One  reply  described  them  as  "our  working 
partners."  Which  description  revealed  the  Christian 
spirit?  In  the  early  days  of  American  industry  the 
owner  and  the  workmen  were  indeed  fellow  workers 
together.  They  constantly  associated  in  many  other 
ways  than  in  the  workshop.  But  now  that  business 
organization  has  extended  to  great  corporations,  it 
has  destroyed  those  personal  relations.  Men  are 
handled  in  the  mass  with  an  almost  military  system. 
The  worker  and  the  employer  seldom  meet  or  know 

165 


166        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

each  other.  The  employer's  children  grow  up  with 
different  standards  of  living  from  those  of  the  workers, 
and  often  there  is  no  contact  between  them.  The  re- 
sult is  two  social  classes,  one  regarding  itself  as  su- 
perior and  the  other  developing  resentment  and  bit- 
terness. 

The  Caste  System.  It  is  an-  old  fact,  this  gulf  be- 
tween those  who  do  different  parts  of  the  world's 
work.  In  India  it  long  ago  solidified  into  the  caste 
system,  with  religious  sanction.  In  Europe  it  devel- 
oped into  a  hereditary  aristocracy,  a  leisure  class 
looking  down  on  those  who  must  labor.  The  power  of 
the  strong  began  it.  They  took  with  their  swords  the 
land  that  enabled  their  descendants  to  live  without 
work.  The  same  power  is  now  making  itself  felt  in 
similar  fashion  in  the  working  world.  Even  in  this 
new  democratic  country,  children  are  being  born  into 
a  consciousness  of  a  superior  position.  Business  men 
found  hereditary  dynasties  which  sometimes  rule  cer- 
tain branches  of  trade  for  many  generations.  Their 
descendants  often  hold  their  place,  not  by  ability,  but 
by  the  power  of  ownership.  Without  active  service, 
as  mere  sleeping  partners  in  the  business,  many  of 
them  live  in  luxury  from  its  proceeds.  Here  is  the 
foundation  for  another  leisure  class  and  for  the  atti- 
tude that  looks  down  upon  the  worker. 

The  Lower  Classes.  From  early  days  those  who  do 
the  common  work  of  the  world  have  been  treated  as 
inferiors  by  those  wno  were  strong  enough  to  use 
them.  At  first  they  were  slaves,  who  were  owned  by 
the  powerful.  Plato,  with  all  his  ideals,  yet  divided 
society  into  different  groups,  of  varying  honor  and 


MASTER  AND  MAN  167 

privilege:  there  were  the  teachers,  there  were  the 
fighters,  there  were  the  traders;  but  at  the  bottom 
there  were  the  workers — the  slaves,  who  had  no  souls, 
who  were  but  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water, 
to  be  used  for  the  comfort  of  the  others.  But  Jesus 
cried,  "Whosoever  will,  may  come,"  and  taught  a 
great  brotherhood  of  life,  open  to  all  on  equal  terms. 
Which  does  modern  society  believe,  the  social  teach- 
ing of  the  pagan  world,  or  that  of  Jesus?  Which  does 
it  practise?  This  is  the  fundamental  issue  underneath 
all  our  industrial  unrest.  After  twenty  centuries  of 
the  teaching  of  Jesus'  ideal  of  brotherhood,  are  the 
workers  still  simply  a  means  to  the  benefit  of  others 
who  are  stronger? 

The  Appeal  to  Religion.  Always  the  strong  and  the 
powerful  have  attempted  to  use  religion  to  justify  and 
maintain  their  superiority.  The  ancient  Hebrew  law 
recognized  the  right  of  the  Jew  to  enslave  the  for- 
eigner. India  maintains  her  caste  system,  holding 
manual  workers  in  subjection,  by  all  the  powers  and 
penalties  of  religion.  The  English  prayer-book  long 
taught  the  common  people  that  their  duty  to  God  also 
involved  their  duty  to  their  betters,  and  that  they 
should  be  content  with  their  station  in  life.  In  recent 
years  some  of  our  industrial  magnates  who  have 
thought  themselves  to  be  Christian  have  claimed  the 
authority  of  God,  declaring  that  in  his  wisdom  he  had 
put  our  natural  resources  and  the  destinies  of  the 
common  people  in  the  charge  of  the  wise  and  the 
good.  It  is  an  old  trick  of  despots — to  claim  ac- 
quaintance with  the  Almighty,  and  in  time  of  storm  to 
seek  shelter  in  his  sanction. 


1.  Company  houses  for  the  Steel  workers  in  a  Pennsylvania 

town. 

2.  Homes  for  w-orkingmen  built  by  the  English  Government 
to  meet  the  war-time  housing  problem. 


©  Hine  Photo   Company 


MASTER  AND  MAN  169 

The  Answer  of  Religion.  But  religion,  when  it  has 
been  faithfully  proclaimed,  has  never  strengthened 
nor  comforted  the  autocrat.  The  cry  of  Moses  at  the 
court  of  Pharoah,  "Let  my  people  go,"  has  been  con- 
stantly sounding  in  the  ears  of  those  who  claimed  spe- 
cial privilege,  who  oppressed  the  weak  and  made 
them  poor.  The  Hebrew  was  ordered  by  the  ancient 
law  to  treat  his  slave  kindly,  to  strike  off  his  shackles 
at  the  end  of  so  many  years,  and  to  provide  him  with 
means  to  start  life  anew,  that  he  might  not  again  fall 
into  slavery  through  debt.  The  prophets  proclaimed 
the  day  of  doom,  "that  great  and  dreadful  day,"  the 
consummation  of  God's  wrath,  upon  those  who  had 
worked  injustice  upon  their  neighbors.  "He  hath  put 
down  princes  from  their  thrones  and  hath  exalted 
them  of  low  degree,"  was  part  of  the  song  with  which 
the  coming  of  the  Messiah  was  heralded.  The  disciples 
were  told  by  Jesus  that  they  should  not  organize  life 
as  the  Gentiles  had,  with  lords  and  rulers  to  have 
dominion  over  them,  but  they  should  be  brothers  in 
service. 

The  Demand  for  Democracy.  Side  by  side  with  the 
spread  of  the  teaching  of  Christianity  has  gone  the 
demand  for  the  abolition  of  class  differences.  The  gos- 
pel has-  stimulated  the  masses  to  rise.  In  the  Western 
world  the  common  people  have  been  constantly  gain- 
ing more  freedom.  Their  natural  independence  and 
their  inborn  spirit  of  liberty  have  been  increased  by 
the  ideals  of  their  religion.  The  story  of  democracy 
is  also  the  story  of  Christianity.  Where  the  gospel 
has  gone,  slaves  have  been  emancipated,  serfs  have 
become  free  men  and  citizens,  tyrants  have  been  over- 


170        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

thrown  or  have  abdicated,  and  the  people  have  learned 
how  to  rule  themselves.  They  have  become  fit  to  rule 
and  are  continually  extending  their  power.  Limited 
suffrage  is  followed  by  universal  suffrage;  and  uni- 
versal suffrage  develops  the  initiative,  referendum,  and 
recall.  The  inevitable  result  of  democracy  is  more 
democracy.  But  the  spirit  of  democracy  now  meets  a 
challenge  in  the  industrial  world.  Is  its  advance  to  be 
halted  here? 

Some  New  Lords.  The  rapid  growth  of  American 
industry  with  the  great  opportunities  it  has  opened 
has  developed  strong  men  who  have  insisted  on  tak- 
ing power  into  their  own  hands.  They  are  a  new- 
group  of  rulers,  intent  upon  controlling  the  conduct  of 
industry  according  to  their  word.  As  Louis  XIV  said, 
"I  am  the  state,"  so  they  declare,  "We  are  business." 
They  do  not  propose  to  be  "dictated  to"  or  "interfered 
with"  either  by  the  public  or  by  the  workers.  To  the 
former  they  have  said :  "The  public  be  damned."  To 
the  latter  their  answer  is :  "We  have  nothing  to  arbi- 
trate." Yet  these  strong  men  have  had  to  yield  to  the 
power  of  the  people,  and  most  of  their  operations  have 
become  subject  to  government  regulation.  Now  they 
are  facing  the  determination  of  the  workers  to  secure 
the  democratic  control  of  industry. 

The  Final  Freedom.  Autocracy  is  taking  its  last 
stand  in  the  trenches  of  our  industrial  system.  After 
all  the  war  lords  and  monarchs  have  been  overthrown, 
democracy  will  still  have  to  meet  and  reckon  with 
those  who  are  determined  to  exercise  autocratic  eco- 
nomic power.  Recently  many  leaders  of  business  have 
been  asserting  absolute  sovereignty,  insisting  that 


MASTER  AND  MAN  171 

workers  shall  have  nothing  to  say  about  the  condi- 
tions under  which  they  work.  Even  the  efficiency  en- 
gineers indicate  that  labor  must  take  the  conditions 
which  their  wisdom  decides  to  be  best;  that  it  needs 
no  voice  in  determining  the  standards  by  which  it  will 
produce.  The  assertion  of  the  right  of  a  few  men  to 
dictate  the  terms  of  work  for  many  others  accom- 
panies the  concentration  of  business  management  and 
of  wealth  in  a  few  hands.  This  is  already  accom- 
plished in  several  of  the  great  industries.  Said  one 
business  man,  "It  is  a  question  whether  one  class  shall 
control  the  destiny  of  another."  But  it  is  also  a  ques- 
tion whether  one  class  shall  control  the  destiny  of  all 
the  rest.  For  if  a  small  group-  of  men  can  get  their 
hands  upon  the  sources  of  wealth,  if  they  can  control 
the  money  power  of  the  United  States,  they  are  mas- 
ters of  the  nation. 

Wage  Slavery.  Some  of  the  leaders  of  labor  con- 
stantly talk  about  wage  slavery.  Is  it  a  mere  empty 
phrase?  When  men  bought  and  owned  other  men  and 
in  return  for  their  labor  gave  them  shelter  and  sub- 
sistence, that  was  slavery.  Of  course  the  owners  dic- 
tated the  conditions  under  which  the  other  men 
should  work  and,  if  necessary,  enforced  their  orders 
by  the  overseer's  whip.  That  was  chattel  slavery. 
If  by  the  wage  system  men  are  compelled  to  work  un- 
der conditions  to  which  they  do  not  consent ;  if  in  re- 
turn for  their  labor  they  get  not  food,  shelter,  and 
clothes,  but  wages  which  often  will  not  provide  these 
things;  if  these  conditions  are  enforced  to  the  profit 
of  others  not  by  the  slave-driver's  whip,  but  by  the 
fear  of  hunger  and  unemployment,  sometimes  created 


172        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

and  always  taken  advantage  of  by  those  who  profit 
by  them,  is  not  this  the  essence  of  slavery?  Most 
people  have  to  work  under  compulsion,  under  the 
necessity  of  getting  food  and  of  caring  for  the  family. 
But  if  some  people  can  control,  direct,  and  profit  by 
the  labor  of  others,  without  their  consent,  that  is  a 
form  of  slavery. 

Is  Labor  a  Commodity?  Again,  if  labor  is  bought 
or  sold  in  the  market  like  any  other  raw  material,  if 
human  life  is  treated  as  a  thing  and  not  as  personality, 
there  is  an  element  of  slavery  present  in  the  trans- 
action. Jesus  taught  the  eternal  value  of  every  human 
life,  and  through  that  teaching  we  have  come  to  learn 
that  a  man  must  not  be  bought  and  sold.  But  if  his 
labor  power  can  be  bought  and  sold  by  others,  if  it 
is  not  subject  to  the  disposal  of  his  own  free  choice, 
is  he  not  then  in  deed  and  truth  a  slave,  at  least  to 
that  extent? 

Benevolent  Rulers.  Many  of  the  men  who  exercise 
great  power  in  industry  and  seek  to  acquire  still  more, 
are  well-meaning,  kindly  men.  They  belong  to  Chris- 
tian churches,  and  in  all  the  personal  relations  of  life 
they  maintain  the  standards  of  Jesus.  They  would  do 
much  good  for  their  workers,  they  would  carry  on 
welfare  activities  and  give  them  good  wages  and  short 
hours  and  decent  houses  to  live  in.  Sometimes  they 
even  believe  in  unions  and  will  deal  with  them,  but 
they  want  the  workers  to  stay  in  one  condition  of  life 
while  their  children  enjoy  another.  Says  one  man, 
who  has  inherited  a  business  which  maintains  his  fam- 
ily in  luxury  and  which  he  expects  to  pass  on  to  his 
sons:  "I  am  a  friend  to  labor.  I  want  the  working- 


MASTER  AND  MAN  173 

men  to  have  good  living  conditions.  I  am  willing  to 
recognize  the  unions."  So  far,  good!  But  what  he 
does  not  say  and  probably  has  never  thought  out  is 
that  he  wants  labor  to  stay  in  an  inferior  social  posi- 
tion to  that  of  his  children  in  order  that  his  descend- 
ants may  live  as  he  has  been  accustomed  to  live.  That 
such  men  are  good  men  does  not  affect  the  funda- 
mental situation.  Good  slave-owners  did  not  make 
slavery  tolerable.  Good  kings  do  not  make  absolute 
monarchies  bearable.  As  Lincoln  said,  "No  man  is 
good  enough  and  wise  enough  to  control  the  lives  of 
his  fellows." 

The  Answer  of  Labor.  The  assertion  of  despotic 
power  has  always  spread  rebellion,  the  claim  of  su- 
perior privilege  has  ever  bred  revolt.  The  spirit  of 
man  always  answers  in  defiance  those  who  attempt  to 
rule  him.  Just  as  despotism  and  aristocracy  have  al- 
ways spread  strife  in  the  world  of  government,  so  does 
it  bring  the  same  revolt  in  the  world  of  work.  This 
is  the  reason  that  the  Federal  Commission  on  Indus- 
trial Relations  says  there  will  be  no  cessation  of  in- 
dustrial unrest  until  the"  principles  of  democracy  are 
extended  to  the  world  of  industry.  Among  the  four 
major  causes  of  industrial  strife  it  puts  denial  of  demo- 
cratic control.  The  men  who  have  been  given  a  share 
in  the  control  of  the  government  will  not  be  content 
to  have  no  voice  in  the  conditions  under  which  they 
work,  which  in  times  of  peace  affect  the  welfare  of 
themselves  and  their  families  more  vitally  than  the 
conduct  of  the  government.  "No  taxation  without 
representation"  is  being  changed  to  "no  production  . 
without  representation."  The  demand  for  industrial 


174        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

democracy  is  the  cry  of  millions  of  workers  the  world 
around.  It  is  the  unconquerable  determination  of 
American  citizens. 

Like  Breeds  Like.  The  worst  feature  of  the  attempt 
to    establish    despotism    in    industry    is    not    that    it 
creates  rebellion,  but  that  it  breeds  a  similar  spirit  on 
the  part  of  the  workers.     It  is  the  testimony  of  em- 
ployers that  fair  dealing,  sympathy,  and  consideration 
meet  with  a  similar  response  from  those  to  whom  they 
are  manifested.    On  the  other  hand,  those  who  suffer 
from  tyranny  and  repression  almost  invariably  mani- 
fest the  same  spirit  when  they  get  to  power,  espe- 
cially if  they  have  to  make  their  way  against  opposi- 
tion.   The  offensive,  domineering  labor  boss  is  but  a 
coarser  replica  of  the   financial   magnate   who  seeks 
unlimited  power.     He  maintains  his  hold  over  better 
men  by  the  same  plea  that  holds  in  power  the  militar- 
istic rulers.    The  militarists  urge  that  their  policy  is 
necessary  for  the  defense  of  the  people  against  the 
aggressors  around  them.     But  for  this  so-called  serv- 
ice a  bitter  price  is  exacted.    The  fearful  excesses  of 
the  common  people  when  they  seized  power  in  the 
French    revolution   was   the   reaction    to    the    brutal 
tyranny  of  the  French  rulers.     It  is  and  will  be  the 
same  in  the  industrial  world.     It  is  not  so  much  a 
group  of  men  as  a  spirit  that  has  to  be  dealt  with. 
Wherever  it  manifests  itself,  the  spread  of  despotism 
must  be  destroyed.     If  those  who  have  intelligence, 
those  who  have  received  the  teaching  of  brotherhood 
from  the  life  of  Jesus,  turn  aside  and  follow  after  the 
spirit  of  power  and  self-seeking,  theirs  must  be  the 
major    blame    for    the    conditions    that    result.      With 


MASTER  AND  MAN  175 

greater  knowledge  and  opportunity  they  have  the 
greater  responsibility  and  condemnation. 

The  World-wide  Demand.  Those  well-meaning- 
people  who  think  that  the  demands  of  the  workers 
are  to  be  satisfied  by  better  conditions  are  destined 
to  a  rude  awakening.  The  world-wide  industrial  un- 
rest is  not  simply  the  rumbling  of  empty  stomachs,  it 
is  the  stirring  of  the  soul  of  man.  It  is  another  univer- 
sal awakening  of  the  human  spirit.  It  can  be  seen  and 
heard  in  far-off  China  and  Japan  where  the  workers, 
who  for  ages  have  been  subordinates,  are  beginning  to 
organize  and  to  make  themselves  felt  in  the  control 
of  industry  and  in  the  policies  of  government.  When 
political  democracy  is  accomplished  the  world 
around,  industrial  democracy  will  receive  a  great  im- 
petus. Organized  Christianity  is  facing  one  of  the 
great  upheavals  of  history.  It  is  itself  largely  respon- 
sible for  it.  It  must  now  meet  the  work  of  its  own 
hands  and  voice.  It  must  reckon  with  the  conse- 
quences of  its  own  missionary  propaganda.  They  call 
it  to  larger  tasks  and  greater  effort.  With  what  spirit 
of  leadership  shall  it  come  to  such  an  hour? 

The  Voice  of  the  Churches.  Already  the  churches 
have  spoken  on  this  matter.  Says  the  Federal  Council 
of  Churches:  "With  the  demand  for  industrial  democ- 
racy the  churches  are  intensely  concerned,  for  de- 
mocracy is  the  expression  of  Christianity."  Its  state- 
ment declares  that  the  Christian  ideal  of  the  state 
cannot  be  realized  until  the  principles  of  democracy  are 
applied  to  industry,  that  the  development  of  Chris- 
tianity requires  industrial  peace;  but  this  awaits  in- 
dustrial justice,  which  requires  the  same  application 


176        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

of  the  teachings  of  Jesus  that  has  been  made  in  the 
state.  Therefore  must  the  churches  support  all  meas- 
ures that  make  for  industrial  democracy.  Says  the 
Northern  Baptist  Convention:  "The  passion  for  de- 
mocracy has  become  the  master  passion  of  our  times. 
Some  great  religious  body  is  needed  that  shall  inter- 
pret this  great  principle  not  in  word  only  but  in  life, 
and  shall  lead  the  world  in  its  search  for  social  and 
industrial  democracy,  and  shall  aid  in  its  practical  real- 
ization in  society."  Says  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Gen- 
eral Conference :  "The  autocratic  control  of  industry  by 
any  group  of  men  without  regard  to  the  rights  either 
of  other  groups  who  contribute  to  the  industrial  proc- 
ess or  of  the  public,  is  contrary  to  Christian  stand- 
ards." Says  Home  Mission  Methods  of  the  Presbyter- 
ian Church  in  the  U.  S.  A.:  "The  church  may  not 
evade  the  social  issue  which  exacts  of  religious  in- 
stitutions a  share  in  effecting  absolutely  necessary 
economic  adjustments."  Says  the  Social  Senice  Mes- 
sage of  the  Men  and  Religion  Movement:  "Industrial 
democracy  is  our  Christian  destiny,  and  henceforth  a 
man's  Christianity  will  have  to  be  measured  to  some 
degree  by  the  willingness  and  enthusiasm  with  which 
he  sets  his  face  to  meet  that  destiny." 

Even  in  -W^r  Time.  In  the  midst  of  the  world  war 
the  yearly  message  of  the  London  Society  of  Friends 
declares :  "That  we  ha.ve  now  come  to  realize  that  the 
conditions  under  which,  either  by  necessity  or  choice, 
men  and  women  are  spending  their  lives  are  also  a 
condemnation  of  the  standards  of  Christianity  almost 
universally  accepted  to-day."  Then  mentioning  prac- 
tical remedies  that  have  been  suggested,  it  says :  "But 


MASTER  AND  MAN  177 

we  are  convinced  that  it  is  something  much  more 
than  this  that  is  wanted,  if  a  Christian  social  order  is 
to  be  attained.  It  is  to  be  noted  that  labor  in  its  strug- 
gle for  emancipation  is  seeking  not  only  improvement 
of  material  conditions,  but  freedom  to  live  a  fuller  life. 
We  base  our  position  on  our  loyalty  to  Jesus,  with 
thought  of  service  to  the  uttermost,  and  on  our  belief 
of  the  divine  in  every  man,  with  all  its  implications. 
On  those  we  must  found  an  ideal  of  life  and  prepare 
to  develop  it  steadily  and  apply  it  fearlessly — in  so  far 
as  society  as  we  know  it  is  based  on  ignoble  or  in- 
ferior aims.  If  war  or  industry  or  social  convention 
treats  the  individual  as  a  pawn  or  as  a  means  and 
not  an  end,  it  is  in  antagonism  to  Christ.  Where 
the  resources  of  life  are  used  as  means  to  selfish  gain 
and  power  and  not  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  common 
needs  of  men,  we  cannot  consistently  acquiesce." 

Accepting  the  Challenge.  It  is  evident  then  that  the 
leaders  of  the  churches  are  hearing  the  challenge  from 
the  awakening  working  classes.  This  great  multitude, 
which  is  now  for  the  first  time  in  history  beginning  to 
speak  and  to  act,  is  looking  for  help  to  the  organiza- 
tion which  stands  for  the  liberty  and  the  freedom  of 
the  gospel.  Said  the  strikers  in  a  Middle-Western, 
American,  church-filled  community  in  explanation  of 
their  bitter  attitude  toward  the  leading  employer,  who 
was  also  a  prominent  churchman  and  had  done  many 
good  things  for  his  workers:  "He  called  us  'Brother' 
in  the  church,  but  when  our  committee  wanted  to  see 
him  about  the  way  his  foremen  were  robbing  us,  he 
refused  to  talk  to  us.  That  kind  of  brotherhood  is  a 
fake  and  a  fraud ;  we  have  no  use  for  it/'  The  church 


178        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

faces  the  obligation  of  seeing  that  the  brotherhood  it 
has  preached  becomes  a  fact  in  the  working  world. 
We  have  named  the  Name ;  we  must  now  do  the  will 
in  all  sincerity,  whatever  the  cost. 

Will  It  Work?  To  many  men  confronted  with  the 
hard  necessities  of  financial,  industrial,  and  commercial 
management,  the  talk  of  industrial  democracy  seems 
an  idle  dream.  It  appears  to  be  but  the  foolishness 
of  preaching.  The  same  objections  that  have  been 
urged  against  every  extension  of  political  power  to  the 
masses  are  now  brought  forward.  "They  are  unedu- 
cated." "They  are  not  capable  of  controlling  them- 
selves." "They  are  inefficient."  But  education  and 
the  opportunity  to  share  in  government  and  in  the  con- 
trol of  industry  are  rapidly  developing  efficiency  in 
the  workers.  "You  cannot  work  a  joint  trade  board 
in  an  industry  like  ours,"  said  the  manufacturers; 
"there  are  too  many  detailed  operations.  Besides,  the 
workers  are  immigrants  of  many  nationalities."  But 
finally  they  tried  it.  It  settled  not  only  every  dispute 
that  led  to  the  strike,  but  every  dispute  that  has  arisen 
since.  "Now,"  the  leading  employer  says,  "we  would 
not  go  back  to  the  old  method  for  anything.  It  is  a 
pleasure  to  walk  among  the  people  in  any  of  our 
factories." 

The  Substance  of  Things  Hoped  For.  When  Jesus 
first  talked  about  brotherhood,  it  seemed  a  vainer  word 
than  it  does  now.  Everywhere  brute  power  was  in 
control.  It  ruled  in  the  state  with  iron  hand.  It 
dominated  the  home  where  the  father  had  power  of 
life  and  death.  But  the  law  of  love  has  replaced  the 
law  of  power  in  the  family  circle  and  in  government  in 


MASTER  AND  MAN  179 

most  countries  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  and  its  prog- 
ress still  continues  without  a  backward  step.  De- 
mocracy is  a  fact  to-day  beyond  the  dreams  of  the 
men  who  sympathetically  heard  Jesus*  talk.  Those 
who  now  propose  to  carry  the  law  of  brotherhood  and 
of  service  over  into  the  working  world  have  behind 
them  what  has  been  accomplished  in  the  family  and 
in  the  state.  They  can  point  with  assurance  to  the 
loving,  cooperative  family  group — to  the  democratic, 
brotherly  state. 

The  Voice  of  the  Worker.  The  first  attempt  to 
change  the  relationship  between  master  and  man  in 
the  great  organized  industries  is  the  demand  of  the 
workers  that  they  may  bring  complaints  about  work- 
ing conditions  directly  to  those  in  responsible  manage- 
ment. The  right  to  select  a  committee  and  have  the 
committee  heard  is  often  the  fighting  point  round  which 
a  strike  develops.  This  is  a  similar  issue  to  the  old 
right  of  petition  which  was  so  long  an  occasion  of 
struggle  in  the  world  of  government.  In  one  of  the 
historic  strikes  in  this  country  which  was  investigated 
by  the  Federal  Council  of  Churches  and  by  the  United 
States  government,  the  beginning  of  the  trouble  was 
the  discharge  of  a  committee  of  the  men  appointed  to 
ask  for  one  day's  rest  in  seven.  In  another  large  and 
significant  strike  the  girls  in  one  of  the  factories  de- 
termined to  go  down  and  make  known  to  the  head  of 
the  industry  their  complaints  concerning  the  abuses  of 
the  foremen.  After  passing  with  difficulty  all  the  in- 
termediaries in  the  office,  they  finally  reached  the 
great  man  himself.  He  recognized  the  justice  of  their 
case,  but  in  order  not  to  interfere  with  discipline,  he 


180        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

told  them  to  go  back  to  the  factory  and  the  matter 
would  be  adjusted  by  the  foreman.  Then  he  called 
up  the  foreman  and  ordered  the  changes  made.  But 
the  girls  were  afraid  to  go  back  and  face  the  petty 
tyrant  who  had  been  the  cause  of  their  trouble.  On 
the  way  back  they  decided  to  strike,  and  their  action 
was  the  beginning  of  a  conflict  that  finally  involved  a 
hundred  thousand  people.  Has  the  church  a  mission- 
ary message  for  such  a  situation  in  that  word  of  the 
Master's,  "Ye  know  that  the  rulers  of  the  Gentiles 
lord  it  over  them.  .  .  .  Not  so  shall  it  be  among  you"  ? 
The  Right  to  Organize.  The  next  expression  of  a 
changed  relationship  between  master  and  man  is  in 
those  permanent  national  and  international  organi- 
zations of  the  workers  which  voice  their  grievances, 
express  their  aspirations,  and  make  agreements  with 
employees  as  to  working  conditions  through  their  ap- 
pointed representatives.  The  trade  union  is  the  be- 
ginning of  representative  government  in  the  workshop. 
It  establishes  a  regular  piece  of  machinery  through 
which  the  workers  participate  in  the  management  of 
the  industry.  Such  participation  would  appear  to  be 
a  fundamental  right.  The  Federal  Council  of 
Churches  stands  "for  the  equal  rights  of  employers 
and  employees  alike  to  organize";  yet  the  Federal 
Commission  on  Industrial  Relations  reports  that  one 
of  the  four  main  sources  from  which  comes  the  indus- 
trial unrest  of  this  country,  is  the  denial  of  the 
workers'  right  and  opportunity  to  form  effective  or- 
ganizations. In  some  of  the  leading  industries  of  this 
country  that  right  has  been  aggressively  denied  by 
organized  associations  of  employers. 


MASTER  AND  MAN  181 

Two  Methods.  A  current  news  item  reports  that  a 
city  manufacturers'  association,  at  the  instigation  of 
the  state  association,  has  taken  a  united  and  definite 
stand  against  labor  unions.  After  this  country  en- 
tered the  war,  the  National  Association  of  Manufac- 
turers enthusiastically  applauded  a  fervent  speech  ex- 
horting them  in  the  name  of  "true  leadership"  to  or- 
ganize a  nation-wide  offensive  against  the  American 
Federation  of  Labor.  The  speaker  inveighed  against 
the  "irresponsible  domination  of  organized  labor/'  and 
to  support  this  invective  much  local  evidence  is  avail- 
able. Organized  labor  brings  exactly  the  same  charge 
of  autocratic  control  against  organized  capital.  Must 
the  community  continually  suffer  from  the  domina- 
tion of  one  class  or  the  other?  Can  it  not  end  class 
domination  by  accepting  the  democratic  principle  of 
joint  industrial  control  which  the  organized  workers 
propose,  and  then  requiring  them  to  live  up  to  it? 
The  head  of  the  special  mission  to  this  country  from 
the  British  Ministry  of  Munitions,  himself  an  em- 
ployer, declared  that  the  success  of  that  department 
was  in  large  measure  due  to  the  adherence  of  or- 
ganized labor. 

Trade  Agreements.  Some  years  ago  in  this  country 
there  was  a  long  and  bitter  anthracite  strike  which 
seriously  discommoded  the  country.  It  was  finally 
settled  by  joint  agreement  between  the  employers,  the 
workers,  and  some  men  representing  the  public,  sit- 
ting in  a  special  commission.  In  1917  the  chosen 
representatives  of  the  miners  and  operators  in  the 
anthracite  c«al-fiel4  sat  down  together  to  consider 
whether  or  not  tke  men  should  have  an  increase  in 


182        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

wages,  although  a  year  ago  they  had  signed  a  con- 
tract as  to  hours  and  wages,  covering  a  longer  pe- 
riod. The  miners  asked  for  the  conference  because 
of  the  increased  cost  of  living,  stating  that  in  no  event 
would  they  strike  in  violation  of  their  agreement.  As 
a  result,  the  operators  agreed  to  give  the  men  a  twenty 
per  cent,  increase.  A  few  weeks  earlier  the  same 
thing  occurred  with  the  bituminous  miners.  Without 
joint  trade  agreements,  without  somebody  to  repre- 
sent the  workers  and  bring  the  injustice  of  their  situ- 
ation to  the  attention  of  the  operators,  there  would 
in  all  probability  have  been  widespread  strikes,  dis- 
locating the  industry  of  the  country  at  a  very  serious 
ti'me.  A  few  years  ago  in  the  same  industry  in  an- 
other state,  there  was  a  severe  strike  with  much 
bloodshed.  A  leader  in  that  fight  on  the  side  of  capi- 
tal, who  had  been  one  of  the  most  bitter  opponents 
of  organized  labor,  recently  signed  an  agreement  with 
the  very  labor  organization  with  whose  representa- 
tives he  had  formerly  emphatically  refused  to  confer. 
These  facts  are  evidence  that  joint  trade  agreements 
tend  to  promote  peace  both  for  industry  and  the  com- 
munity. 

A  Question.  Yet  the  situation  in  the  coal  indus- 
try a  few  years  ago  was  practically  hopeless,  accord- 
ing to  a  report  of  the  United  States  Department  of 
Labor,  because  the  German,  English,  Irish,  Scotch, 
and  Welsh  miners  had  been  supplanted  gradually  by 
immigrants  from  southern  and  eastern  Europe — 
Lithuanians,  Poles,  Slovaks,  Bohemians,  and  South 
Italians.  They  were  working  for  less  than  a  living 
wage.  Their  families  were  being  forced  prematurely 


MASTER  AND  MAN  183 

into  the  breakers  and  mills.  There  was  practically 
no  protest  against  the  conditions.  When  local  labor 
disturbances  did  occur,  the  services  of  immigrant 
clergy  "as  mediators  and  arbitrators  were  often  used 
for  the  primary  purpose  of  maintaining  peace  with  the 
operators  rather  than  for  the  betterment  of  the  condi- 
tions. The  continuous  change  in  the  composition  of 
the  mine  workers  was  not  only  an  evidence  in  itself 
of  wages  too  low  and  opportunity  for  earnings  too 
slight  to  maintain  the  standard  of  living  required  by 
the  native  German  or  British  worker,  but  it  estab- 
lished the  employer  in  an  autocracy  more  absolute 
than  ever  before.  Any  possibility  of  an  autonomous, 
spontaneous  organization  of  workers,  of  sufficient 
power  to  bargain  collectively  with  their  employers, 
was  almost,  if  not  quite  inconceivable."  The  govern- 
ment report  well  concludes  that  "there  has  not  been 
a  more  notable  chapter  in  the  history  of  American 
capital  and  labor  than  the  transition  in  the  anthracite 
coal-field  of  Pennsylvania  from  a  situation  in  which 
trade  agreements  were  believed  to  be  impossible  into 
a  well-developed  form  of  collective  bargaining  and  an 
unusually  efficient  system  of  conciliation  and  arbitra- 
tion of  disputes.  Surely  an  organization  which  has 
brought  this  group  of  people  in  a  peaceful,  orderly 
manner  to  take  their  part  in  the  control  of  a  great  in- 
dustry so  that  its  affairs  can  be  adjusted  without  dis- 
turbance of  the  welfare  of  the  nation,  is  entitled  to 
some  respect  and  consideration  from  the  church  which 
is  also  trying  to  better  the  condition  of  these  same 
immigrants. 

Some  Expert  Testimony.     Says  the  Federal  Com- 


184        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

mission  on  Industrial  Relations:  "The  conditions  of 
employment  can  be  most  satisfactorily  fixed  by  joint 
agreements  between  associations  of  employers  and 
trade  unions."  The  Commission  points  out  that  "it 
becomes  possible  to  regulate  the  trade  or  the  indus- 
try, not  merely  with  reference  to  wages  and  hours, 
but  with  reference  to  unemployment,  the  recruiting  of 
the  trade,  and  the  introduction  of  machinery  and  new 
processes."  It  believes  that  this  method  is  superior 
to  legislative  enactment  because  it  "more  nearly 
achieves  the  ideal  of  fundamental  democracy  that  gov- 
ernment should  to  the  greatest  possible  extent  consist 
of  agreements  and  understandings  voluntarily  made." 
Moreover  this  method  covers  many  trade  problems  to 
which  legislation  cannot  be  applied.  It  points  out 
that  joint  agreements  on  the  whole  are  well  kept; 
"there  is  a  consistent  increase  in  the  sense  of  moral 
obligation  on  the  part  of  both  employers  and  unions." 
It  recommends  "the  extension  of  joint  agreements  as 
regards  not  only  the  field  of  industry  which  they 
cover  and  the  class  of  labor  included,  but  the  subjects 
which  are  taken  up  for  negotiation  and  settlement." 

In  War  Time.  Under  the  pressure  of  war  neces- 
sities much  progress  has  been  made  in  setting  up  ma- 
chinery to  prevent  industrial  disturbance.  In  Eng- 
land the  government  has  worked  out  a  plan  for  the 
democratic  control  of  industry  between  organized  capi- 
tal, organized  labor,  and  the  state,  during  and  after 
the  war,  by  joint  boards — national,  district,  and  lo- 
cal— .for  each  industry.  This  amounts  to  government 
recognition  of  organized  labor,  which  is  held  corre- 
spondingly responsible.  In  this  country  a  special  com- 


MASTER  AND  MAN  185 

mission  appointed  by  the  President  to  deal  with  in- 
dustrial disputes  has  been  substituting  democratic 
methods  of  conciliation  and  agreement  for  strife  and 
warfare.  One  paragraph  in  such  an  agreement  reads : 
"It  is  understood  that  this  machinery  will  take  the 
place  of  strikes  or  lockouts  during  the  period  of  the 
war,  and  no  other  method  for  regulating  relations  be- 
tween employers  and  employed  shall  be  substituted 
except  by  mutual  agreement." 

The  Building  Trades  Department  of  the  American 
Federation  of  Labor  has  recently  agreed  that  there 
shall  be  no  more  strikes  over  jurisdictional  matters 
throughout  the  duration  of  the  war.  When  a  dispute 
arises,  instead  of  the  protesting  union's  calling  a 
strike,  the  presidents  of  the  two  unions  involved  must 
go  to  the  scene  of  the  trouble  and  endeavor  to  adjust 
it.  If  they  fail  to  agree,  the  final  decision  rests  with 
the  president  of  the  Building  Trades  Department. 
This  relieves  employers  and  the  public  from  the  in- 
tolerable annoyance  and  suffering  which  has  contin- 
ually been  caused  by  strikes  over  disputes  between 
different  unions. 

A  Social  Force.  There  are  many  blunders  and  some 
crimes  to  be  charged  against  organized  labor  in  this 
country,  but  these  constitute  no  reason  to  deny  the 
right  of  labor  to  organize.  The  recognition  of  that 
right  and  the  measures  to  make  it  effective  are  indis- 
pensable to  the  well-being  of  labor,  the  stability  of 
industry,  and  the  security  of  the  community.  The 
trade  union  has  furnished  the  workers  with  protec- 
tion against  the  aggression  of  unscrupulous  leaders 
of  capital ;  it  has  shortened  their  hours  and  raised 


186        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

their  wages;  it  has  helped  them  to  learn  self-control 
and  has  developed  them  in  the  school  of  democracy. 
Carroll  D.  Wright  says  it  has  done  more  to  Ameri- 
canize the  immigrant  than  any  other  agency.  It  has 
also  secured  great  social  advance  for  the  whole  com- 
munity. It  has  called  attention  to  the  need  of  social 
legislation,  and  largely  formulated  such  a  program. 
Most  significant  of  all,  it  has  established  relations  of 
partnership  between  employer  and  employee  in  its 
trade  agreements.  In  place  of  the  old  relation  of  mas- 
ter and  man,  superior  and  inferior,  it  puts  the  relation 
of  two  groups  collectively  bargaining  together  on 
terms  of  equality  concerning  how  they  will  work  to- 
gether. This  is  clearly  a  step  in  the  direction  of  the 
brotherhood  taught  by  Jesus. 

The  Test.  Says  the  Federal  Commission :  "Greater 
responsibility  for  the  character  and  conduct  of  their 
members  should  accompany  the  greater  participation 
of  trade  unions  in  the  governing  of  industry .**  The 
real  test  of  these  organizations  is  whether  they  make 
for  democracy.  If  they  are  to  be  simply  the  aristo- 
cratic associations  of  skilled  workers,  seeking  their 
own  advantage,  their  day  is  short.  If  they  are  to  join 
with  associations  of  employers  in  holding  up  the  rest 
of  the  community  for  the  mutual  profit  of  both  sides, 
they  become  a  menace  to  the  community  that  must  be 
sternly  checked.  Their  value  to  the  community  de- 
pends upon  how  far  they  will  go  in  the  direction  of 
that  brotherhood  which  Jesus  taught.  In  one  of  our 
historic  strikes  the  employer  offered  to  grant  all  the 
demands  of  the  skilled  workers  if  only  they  would  for- 
sake the  unskilled  immigrants  whom  they  had  lately 


MASTER  AND  MAN  187 

organized,  and  for  whom  they  were  asking  a  small  in- 
crease in  wage.  They  refused,  and  eventually  lost  the 
strike.  Recently  in  a  large  firm  which  has  a  joint 
board  of  control  that  decides  all  working  conditions, 
the  time  of  work  was  cut  three  hours  a  week  and 
wages  were  raised  ten  per  cent.  The  employees  de- 
cided to  distribute  five  per  cent,  of  the  increase  among 
all  the  workers  to  reimburse  them  for  the  amount  lost 
by  the  cut  in  hours,  and  appropriated  the  other  five 
per  cent,  to  the  lowest-paid  groups,  raising  them  from 
ten  to  twenty-five  per  cent.  If  industrial  democracy 
can  thus  teach  privileged  people  to  help  the  weak,  let 
us  by  all  means  have  more  of  it !  In  so  far  as  organ- 
ized labor  seeks  not  simply  its  own,  but  the  good  of 
the  people  below  it  and  the  good  of  the  whole  com- 
munity, it  is  rendering  a  great  service  to  society.  To 
make  it  more  effective  in  these  directions  and  because 
it  is  developing  the  methods  for  the  expression  of  the 
Christian  ideal  of  democracy  in  industry,  the  church 
must  seek  to  cooperate  with  organized  labor  for  the 
common  welfare  of  the  community.  The  joint  trade 
agreement  is  however  only  the  beginning  of  the  change 
in  the  relations  of  master  and  man  required  by  the 
teachings  of  Jesus.  It  is  a  half-way  house  toward  in- 
dustrial democracy. 

The  Next  Step.  The  head  of  an  organization  which 
furnishes  reports  on  business  conditions  to  leaders  of 
industry  and  finance  recently  informed  them  that  in 
his  judgment  there  is  only  one  solution  to  the  indus- 
trial conflict,  and  that  is  to  make  the  workers  them- 
selves the  owners  of  industry.  This  is  the  consensus 
of  opinion  of  those  who  have  studied  the  question 


188        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

both  theoretically  and  practically.  When  all  workers 
are  owners  and  all  owners  are  workers,  the  funda- 
mental cause  of  industrial  conflict  will  be  removed. 
The  next  advance  in  industrial  democracy  is  to  give 
the  workers  not  only  a  share  in  the  management,  but 
also  a  share  in  the  ownership  of  the  concern.  This 
is  being  done  in  many  corporations  by  giving  the  em- 
ployees the  opportunity  to  purchase  stock  on  favor- 
able terms.  Carried  to  its  conclusion,  this  process 
will  eliminate  the  superior  position  and  power  which 
has  been  gained  by  the  capitalist  group  in  their  con- 
centrated ownership  of  the  things  upon  which  the  life 
and  labor  of  others  depend.  The  steps  by  which  this 
conclusion  is  to  be  reached  only  further  experiment 
can  determine.  The  compulsion  is  upon  us  to  discover 
the  full  economic  meaning  of  Christian  brotherhood. 
It  is  a  day  of  adventure  in  Christian  living.  The  pio- 
neers in  the  industrial  work  who  are  finding  out  the 
methods  by  which  relations  of  brotherhood  may  be  es- 
tablished both  in  the  management  and  the  ownership 
of  industry  are  indeed  missionaries  of  the  gospel. 
They  challenge  organized  religion  to  cross  new  fron- 
tiers. The  Christian  in  business  must  become  a  herald 
of  the  evangel. 

Doers  of  the  Word.  There  is  a  new  world  to  be 
made.  Our  opportunities,  through  modern  invention 
and  organization,  to  express  life  in  higher  forms  than 
the  race  has  ever  yet  lived  it,  were  never  known  to 
any  other  people.  We  have  a  clear  knowledge  of  the 
principles  that  must  be  expressed.  Jesus  gave  them 
to  us,  and  in  doing  it  he  fulfilled  the  law  and  the 
prophets  and  voiced  the  common  aspirations  of  man- 


MASTER  AND  MAN  189 

kind.     They  drive  us  forward,  and  the  stars  of  our 
ideals  call  us.    Who  will  answer  this  challenge? 

Labor  Copartnership.  The  workers  themselves  have 
found  out  how  they  may  become  owners  of  industry. 
They  have  worked  out  the  principle  of  cooperative 
ownership  in  several  countries.  They  own  and  carry 
on  stores,  wholesale  and  retail ;  they  own  and  operate 
factories ;  they  conduct  their  own  farms ; — all  coop- 
eratively. They  have  taught  the  farmers  of  Ireland 
and  Denmark  how  to  work  and  sell  their  produce  to- 
gether. In  these  associations  the  workers  are  the 
managers.  Whatever  profits  they  make  go  to  them- 
selves. There  are  no  other  stockholders  to  pay.  The 
cooperative  societies  of  Europe  are  doing  business 
amounting  to  millions  of  dollars  yearly  with  great  effi- 
ciency. Their  records  make  a  dramatic  story  of  the 
gradual  development  of  a  missionary  spirit  and  pur- 
pose. They  continually  set  aside  a  part  of  their  profits 
for  the  extension  of  the  gospel  of  cooperation.  Many 
of  them  feel  themselves  to  be  expressing  God  through 
brotherhood  in  the  working  world.  In  this  country 
cooperation  is  developing  in  rural  communities. 
Farmers  frequently  get  together  to  buy  their  needed 
supplies  or  to  own  and  use  machinery  in  common. 
Recently  a  prosperous  landowner  decided  that  it  was 
his  religious  duty  to  help  his  tenants  to  get  farms  of 
their  own  through  his  ability  to  furnish  them  with 
capital  on  a  cooperative  plan.  Under  the  leadership 
and  inspiration  of  a  preacher  in  a  fruit-raising  com- 
munity, the  growers  organized  a  cooperative  company 
to  sell  their  products  and  a  joint  stock  canning  fac- 
tory to  dispose  of  their  surplus.  Men  who  do  such 


190        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

things  are  expressing  the  gospel  in  new  terms.  It  be- 
comes closer  and  more  real  to  their  lives. 

Progress  in  Cooperation.  At  its  1917  session  the 
American  Federation  of  Labor  decided  to  put  a  lec- 
turer and  organizer  in  the  field  to  promote  coopera- 
tive purchasing  societies  among  trade  unionists.  In 
England  the  3,500,000  members  of  industrial  coopera- 
tive societies  have  just  decided  to  enter  the  field  of 
direct  political  action  in  close  alliance  with  the  Labor 
Party.  This  means  that  all  the  labor  forces  of  Eng- 
land will  agree  on  a  parliamentary  program  to  work 
out  the  principle  of  cooperative  ownership.  Because 
such  action  is  a  further  step  forward  in  the  working 
out  of  the  Christian  ideal  of  industrial  democracy,  the 
churches  are  challenged  to  cooperate  with  all  forces 
and  support  all  measures  that  make  for  joint  industrial 
ownership. 

A  Remarkable  Case.  A  preacher  who  has  been  do- 
ing home  missionary  work  among  the  lumber-workers 
of  a  Western  state  found  many  of  the  shingle  weavers 
out  of  work.  The  shingle-mills  were  shut  down.  He 
developed  a  plan  for  the  men  to  acquire  and  conduct 
the  mills  cooperatively.  Over  twenty  cooperative 
shingle-mills,  with  a  capital  value  of  close  to  $250,000 
are  now  being  run  by  the  men,  who  are  working  for 
themselves.  Many  of  these  men  are  I.  W.  W/s,  home- 
less, nomadic  workers,  called  "blanket  stiffs"  by  stable 
citizens  in  derision,  despised  as  the  scum  of  the  earth. 
Under  the  stimulus  of  ownership  such  men  have 
proved  themselves  capable  of  becoming  good  indus- 
trial managers.  It  is  another  evidence  of  the  truth 
that  if  men  "seek  first  the  kingdom  of  God  and  his 


MASTER  AND  MAN  191 

righteousness,"  the  other  things  will  come.  Could 
that  preacher  have  done  any  more  effective  piece  of 
missionary  work? 

Working  with  God.  Our  missionary  task  in  the  in- 
dustrial world  is  to  make  work  religious,  not  simply 
to  get  the  workers  to  church.  It  is  not  merely  to  get 
men  to  name  the  name  of  Jesus,  but  to  get  business 
done  in  accordance  with  his  spirit  and  teaching.  The 
special  duty  of  the  church  in  relation  to  industry  is  to 
secure  the  acceptance  of  certain  principles.  Those 
who  would  undertake  this  task  must  begin  by  recog- 
nizing the  rights  of  the  workers ;  they  must  be  willing 
to  meet  them  as  equals,  to  treat  them  as  persons  and 
not  as  things.  Followers  of  Jesus  cannot  consistently 
use  others  as  tools  to  make  their  profit  and  comfort. 
They  are  under  obligation  to  work  with  them  as 
brothers  that  together  they  may  come  to  find  God, 
their  common  Father,  and  express  him  in  the  work  of 
the  world.  When  men  learn  how  to  work,  not  for  the 
selfish  ends  of  themselves  and  their  group,  but  in  all 
high  service  to  the  common  good,  then  God  will  be 
expressed  in  the  working  world.  As  he  was  revealed 
of  old  at  the  carpenter's  bench,  so  men  shall  see  him 
again  in  a  million  workshops,  mines,  and  factories  the 
world  around. 

World-wide  Results.  The  gospel  has  brought  hope 
and  life  to  millions  of  downtrodden  workers  in  India 
by  destroying  the  caste  system  that  held  them  in  deg- 
radation. There  are  other  millions  of  toilers  who  are 
waiting  for  the  gospel  to  destroy  the  caste  that  is 
founded  on  economic  power  in  America  and  Europe, 
just  as  it  destroys  the  caste  that  is  sustained  by  re- 


192        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

Hgion  and  yet  based  upon  economic  power  in  India. 
Will  the  church  accept  this  mission  task?  There  are 
world-wide  consequences  here.  This  nation  desires  de- 
mocracy to  spread  in  order  that  all  peoples  may  be 
free  and  the  world  may  be  safe  for  all.  But  democ- 
racy is  more  than  a  question  of  government.  It  in- 
volves industrial  relations.  The  question  of  master 
and  men,  of  labor  and  capital,  is  also  the  question  of 
the  relations  between  the  stronger  and  the  weaker  na- 
tions. Are  the  yellow  and  the  black  races  always  to 
be  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water  and  makers 
of  profit  for  the  white  people?  Are  the  nations  which 
own  the  capital  and  machinery,  the  science  and  the  in- 
vention, to  have  control  of  the  undeveloped  resources 
of  the  earth  and  the  labor  of  the  backward  peoples, 
taking  the  first  fruits  for  themselves?  Are  they  to 
lead  in  dominating  the  trade  routes  and  the  markets 
of  the  earth?  Or  will  they  be  brothers  to  the  weaker 
nations  and  show  them  how  to  develop  their  own  re- 
sources and  powers?  Will  they  serve  them  in  the 
economic  world  as  in  the  mission  field?  The  world 
need  and  the  world  program  is  one.  If  we  would 
spread  democracy  and  Christianity  throughout  the 
world,  we  must  work  them  out  here  in  the  United 
States.  If  this  nation  can  learn  how  to  work  together 
to  meet  the  common  needs,  not  as  masters  and  men, 
but  as  brothers,  then  it  may  help  the  nations  so  to 
work  and  thus  find  the  path  to  permanent  peace. 


VII 
MEN  AND  THINGS 


Aim :  To  show  that  the  final  step  in  making  industry 
Christian  is  to  apply  the  principle  of  Jesus  to  the  rela- 
tions of  men  to  property, 


VII 
MEN  AND  THINGS 

Why  Men  Fight.  The  common  people  of  Europe 
who  are  suffering  most  from  the  war  are  constantly 
wondering  what  it  is  all  about.  The  thinkers  of  the 
world  are  trying  to  discover  the  reasons  why  men 
should  fight,  why  the  world  should  be  plunged  into 
such  horror  of  suffering.  The  same  questions  come 
out  of  the  industrial  conflict,  both  from  those  who 
suffer  in  it  and  from  those  who  observe  it.  Why 
should  there  be  continually  wars  and  rumors  of  wars, 
fighting  and  bloodshed  in  the  work  process  of  the 
nation?  This  industrial  conflict  is  a  replica  of  war. 
Why?  Is  it  because  men  cannot  agree  upon  the  man- 
agement of  industry,  or  because  they  cannot  agree 
upon  how  to  divide  its  product?  Out  of  both  of  these 
questions  conflict  develops.  It  has  a  twofold  aspect. 
On  the  one  hand  it  concerns  the  relations  of  men  to 
each  other.  On  the  other  hand  it  concerns  their  joint 
relation  to  the  things  on  which  industry  depends. 
Here  are  the  great  natural  resources  of  the  earth  which 
God  has  created  for  the  development  of  mankind.  Out 
of  them  is  made  by  human  labor  the  wealth  on  which 
the  world  subsists.  From  them  come  food  and 
clothes  and  shelter,  education,  inventions,  comforts, 
luxuries.  The  industrial  conflict  centers  about  the 
question  of  the  terms  upon  which  men  shall  use  these 
natural  resources,  how  they  shall  control  them,  how 

i95 


196        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

they  shall  divide  the  wealth  which  comes  out  of  them. 
Before  a  right  relationship  of  men  to  each  other  can 
be  completed,  there  must  be  discovered  the  right  rela- 
tionship which  all  men  together  must  hold  to  these 
gx)ods  upon  which  the  development  of  life  depends. 

The  Economic  Conflict.  On  the  surface,  as  we  have 
seen,  the  industrial  conflict  is  a  struggle  between  two 
groups — the  "have's"  and  the  "have-not's/'  the  pro- 
ducers and  the  possessors.  It  is  a  contest  in  which 
each  side  strives  to  get  more  of  the  goods  of  life.  This 
is  the  widest  aspect  of  the  competitive  system  of  in- 
dustry, which  not  only  puts  man  against  man,  but 
finally  group  against  group.  Its  continued  warfare  be- 
comes intolerable  to  those  who  have  seen  the  ideal 
of  fraternal,  helpful  living  that  Jesus  taught.  Recently 
a  thirteen-year-old  boy  said,  "Sometimes  I  feel  like 
committing  suicide ;  it  seems  that  there  is  no  way  out 
of  things."  Being  pressed  to  make  clear  what  he 
meant,  he  said,  "Oh,  whatever  you  try  to  do,  some 
other  fellow  is  trying  to  get  ahead  of  you  or  you're 
trying  to  get  ahead  of  him.  One  fellow  only  gets  up 
by  pushing  another  fellow  down."  When  the  com- 
petitive struggle  is  enlarged  into  a  contest  between 
two  classes  in  society,  its  waste  becomes  greater,  its 
challenge  to  the  Christian  conscience  more  acute. 

A  Deeper  Issue.  But  the  conflict  goes  deeper.  When 
the  question  of  justice  in  the  distribution  of  income 
is  raised,  it  develops  into  the  question  of  the  owner- 
ship and  use  of  property.  Should  it  belong  to  the  in- 
dividual or  to  the  community?  Or  should  one  kind 
of  property  be  held  by  individuals  and  another  by  the 
community?  There  is  an  antagonism  of  opinion  here 


MEN  AND  THINGS  197 

developing  out  of  the  different  interests  of  those  who 
have  little  and  those  who  have  much.  But  the  issue 
goes  deeper  still.  It  goes  past  the  question  of  the 
ownership  of  property  to  the  question  of  its  very  na- 
ture; it  raises  not  merely  the  issue  of  its  control  and 
use,  but  the  question  of  its  place  and  value  in  life. 
Here  is  a  spiritual  conflict,  a  battle  of  ideas  and  ideals, 
and  the  lines  are  not  divided  according  to  possession, 
nor  views  of  ownership.  That  a  man  has  little,  or  that 
he  believes  in  cooperative  ownership  is  no  guaranty 
that  he  has  discovered  the  spiritual  meaning  of  prop- 
erty. Because  a  man  seeks  for  justice  in  the  distribu- 
tion of  wealth  is  no  evidence  that  he  appreciates  the 
full  human  values  and  uses  of  wealth. 

Extent  of  the  Conflict.  The  struggle  over  goods  is 
largely  determining  to-day  the  form  and  character  of 
government,  whose  activities  are  concerned  more  and 
more  with  the  regulation  of  industry.  It  is  a  great 
international  issue.  One  of  the  underlying  causes 
of  friction  between  nations  is  the  competitive  struggle 
for  the  wealth  of  the  world.  Diplomacy  now  centers 
around  the  control  of  the  undeveloped  territories  of 
the  earth,  of  the  trade  routes,  of  the  opening  markets. 
The  making  of  future  wars,  the  seeds  of  coming 
conflicts,  are  present  in  this  economic  struggle.  Unless 
men  can  discover  together  a  different  relation  to  prop- 
erty, there  is  no  prospect  of  ending  war.  No  diplomatic 
agreements  will  avail  in  the  face  of  this  continued 
antagonism.  If  the  natural  resources  of  the  earth  are 
to  be  the  prize  of  the  stronger,  richer,  more  powerful 
nations,  if  the  weaker  peoples  of  the  earth  are  per- 
manently to  serve  the  great  nations  by  working  for 


198        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

their  profit,  surely  there  can  be  no  peace  in  the  earth. 
The  Great  God  Mammon.  It  is  recorded  in  the 
Scripture  how  an  ancient  king  set  up  a  great  idol  in 
the  plain  of  Dura  and  bade  all  the  officers  of  his  king- 
dom to  fall  down  and  worship  it.  To-day  the  nations 
of  the  earth  have  set  up  the  god  Mammon,  and  our 
civilization  is  worshiping  it.  Our  industrial  system 
seeks  to  increase  goods  rather  than  to  develop  hu- 
manity. Property  is  mighty.  The  man  of  wealth 
meets  instinctively  with  deference  and  respect,  whether 
it  be  from  the  policeman  on  the  street  corner  or  the 
judge  upon  the  bench.  The  store  will  give  him  credit 
which  it  will  deny  to  the  poor  man.  He  comes  before 
the  legislature  with  standing  and  prestige.  The  church 
gives  him  high  place  in  recognition  of  his  ability, 
sometimes  without  stopping  to  consider  whether  suc- 
cess in  money-making  is  the  only  or  the  best  evidence 
of  ability  and  of  the  kind  of  ability  that  Christianity 
requires  for-its  highest  expression  and  extension.  The 
"mark  of  the  beast"  is  all  over  our  civilization.  The 
slimy  trail  of  profit  is  everywhere.  Our  great  organ- 
ized iniquities,  the  institutions  that  destroy  the  bodies 
and  souls  of  the  people — the  liquor  traffic,  prostitution, 
child  labor,  unhealthful  occupations  of  women — all 
these  are  conducted  for  profit.  It  is  the  great  motive 
of  gain,  the  desire  to  amass  property,  which  strength- 
ens all  the  evil  instincts  of  mankind.  Those  who  stand 
out  against  this  common  practise  of  the  exaltation  of 
property  are  as  noticeable  as  the  three  young  men 
who  refused  to  fall  down  and  worship  the  golden 
image  of  old.  Is  the  fact  that  our  civilization  is  an 
organized  struggle  after  material  things  the  real  reason 


MEN  AND  THINGS  199 

for  the  industrial  conflict?  Is  this  the  underlying  sin 
that  breaks  out  in  its  struggle? 

Why  Men  Work.  To  get  light  upon  this  question, 
to  see  whether  this  is  a  fair  indictment  of  our  civiliza- 
tion, ask  the  average  wage-earner  why  he  works.  His 
simple  answer  will  be,  because  he  must  get  a  living. 
If  he  is  a  single  man,  he  knows  that  he  must  work 
if  he  would  eat ;  it  is  the  compulsion  of  circumstance, 
the  need  for  bread,  that  sends  him  to  toil.  If  he  is 
married,  it  is  the  need  of  his  family.  It  is  the  com- 
pulsion of  home  duties,  the  necessity  of  food  and 
clothes  and  shelter  and  education  for  the  children  that 
furnishes  the  great  common  stimulus  to  the  working 
energies  of  men.  Talk  to  the  salaried  group  and  it  is 
the  same  thing.  It  is  a  higher  standard  of  living  that 
they  seek  for  their  families.  Many  of  the  people  who 
strive  for  great  wealth  when  already  they  have  more 
than  sufficient  to  provide  a  proper  standard  of  living 
for  their  families  are  still  driven  by  the  same  motive. 
Not  knowing  the  worth  of  the  simple  life,  they  now 
seek  luxury  for  their  families  ;  they  desire  to  give  them 
every  possible  indulgence.  Family  well-being  is  un- 
doubtedly the  greatest  single  motive  in  the  working 
world.  Then  why  should  men  fight  •over  their  work? 
If  they  are  commonly  seeking  to  maintain  their  fam- 
ilies, why  should  they  not  be  able  to  do  this  in  peace 
and  safety  together? 

The  Lure  of  the  Game.  For  those  who  have 
achieved  success  in  the  struggle  to  provide  for  the 
family,  another  motive  comes  into  the  working  world. 
The  big  men  of  business  pursue  the  game  of  money- 
making  from  mixed  motives.  Partly  they  play  the 


"The  only  visible  goal,  the  only  apparent  motive  of  our 
industrial  system  is  the  production  of  things.  .  .  .  The  making 
of  future  wars,  the  seeds  of  coming  conflicts  are  present  in  this 
economic  struggle.  Unless  men  can  discover  together  a  different 
relation  to  property^  there  is  no  prospect  of  ending  war." 


MEN  AND  THINGS  201 

game  for  the  sake  of  the  game  itself.  The  love  of 
playing  it  has  caught  them  so  that  they  may  not  es- 
cape from  its  snare.  They  have  themselves  become 
slaves  to  their  own  property,  which  drives  them  and 
compels  them  for  its  protection  to  develop  it  into  still 
greater  wealth.  Partly,  too,  men  seek  to  amass  great 
fortunes  because  money  is  both  the  fact  and  sign  of 
power.  This  is  the  dominant  motive.  Wealth  gives 
power  to  tax  the  labor  and  control  the  lives  of  others. 
It  gives  dominance  to-day  akin  to  that  of  the  mastery 
of  armies  in  other  times.  The  luxury  and  extrava- 
gance of  the  family,  the  larger  house,  the  big  grounds, 
the  finer  clothing — these  are  the  emblems  of  power, 
the  insignia  of  success.  Men  work  and  struggle  for 
these  as  proofs  that  they  have  acquired  the  mastery 
of  others. 

The  Two  Motives.  Two  motives  then  appear  in 
this  industrial  struggle;  the  motive  of  the  desire  for 
the  necessities  of  life  and  the  motive  for  power.  The 
former  is  evidently  a  religious  duty,  the  latter  usually 
professes  piety.  In  Europe  there  is  the  Kaiser,  claim- 
ing to  be  the  servant  of  God,  assuming  God's  protec- 
tion and  seeking  ever  more  power  over  his  fellow  men. 
Here  there  are  great  Americans — millionaires,  cor- 
poration leaders,  Christian  men — claiming  to  be  the 
servants  of  God  and  striving  constantly  to  enlarge 
their  trade  and  their  millions,  also  seeking  to  get  more 
power  over  their  fellows.  They  have  even  been  taught 
that  the  ability  to  get  rich  is  a  Christian  virtue,  as 
long  as  the  riches  are  properly  used,  especially  if  they 
are  given  to  the  church.  Thus  the  struggle  to  get 
more  goods  is  given  the  blessing  of  religion,  and  the 


202        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

natural  selfishness  and  greed  of  men  becomes  pro- 
tected by  piety,  just  as  the  love  of  power  in  kings 
and  emperors  is  also  given  the  sanction  of  religion 
and  thereby  made  more  intense  and  more  dangerous. 
The  common  people  who  feel  the  effects  of  an  indus- 
trial system  in  which  the  strong  climb  to  power  on 
the  backs  of  the  weak,  are  asking  how  far  it  represents 
the  teaching  of  him  who  came  "not  to  be  ministered 
unto  but  to  minister,"  who  told  his  followers  to  be 
the  servants  of  others.  What  will  the  church  answer? 
Has  it  a  gospel  for  the  making  of  wealth  as  well  as 
for  the  use  of  it?  Does  it  believe  with  its  Master  that 
service  can  become  a  more  powerful  motive  than  profit 
or  power,  and  that  greater  rewards  than  fortunes  can 
be  found  for  ability? 

The  Demand  for  More.  No  fortune  seems  to  be 
adequate  to  glut  the  ambitions  of  men.  Few  people 
are  ever  satisfied.  All  the  world  is  crying  for  more. 
Some  want  more  of  a  living  and  others  more  luxury. 
The  battle  is  to  the  strong  and  the  spoils  to  the  victor. 
The  work  life  of  the  world  is  organized  to  make  more 
goods  and  still  more.  The  only  visible  goal,  the  only 
apparent  motive  of  our  industrial  system  is  the  pro- 
duction of  things.  It  is  not  yet  conscious  of  making 
these  things  because  they  are  needed  to  develop  hu- 
man life,  but  only  because  that  is  the  way  to  get  rich. 
It  is  like  the  man  in  the  Scriptures  who  would  pull 
down  his  barns  and  build  greater.  Many  professing 
Christians  follow  the  custom.  Said  a  church-member, 
"I  can  make  my  business  the  greatest  of  its  kind  in 
the  world.  I  can  make  a  fortune  of  several  million 
dollars.  Why  should  I  not  do  this?"  Said  a  man  and 


MEN  AND  THINGS  203 

his  wife,  both  college  graduates,  the  most  efficient 
farmers  in  their  community,  "Our  ambition  is  to  own 
at  least  ten  farms  and  leave  them  to  our  children." 
This  was  in  a  section  where  land  was  worth  $300  to 
$350  an  acre.  Such  forms  does  ambition  take  even 
under  Christian  teaching,  when  that  teaching  is  offset 
by  a  social  order  that  is  seeking  first  not  the  kingdom 
of  God,  but  to  add  to  itself  "these  things."  An  in- 
creasing number  of  people  are  emancipating  them- 
selves from  the  pagan  struggle  for  gain,  but  they  are 
yet  only  the  little  company  who  have  not  bowed  the 
knee  to  Baal.  Those  who  are  the  loudest  in  their  out- 
cries against  the  worship  of  Mammon  are  oftentimes 
conquered  by  its  spirit  and  motives.  Many  of  those 
who  attack  most  bitterly  the  methods  of  the  men  of 
great  wealth  would  themselves,  do  the  same  things 
with  the  same  opportunity.  The  lust  for  gain  and 
power  is  a  disease  that  runs  through  the  whole  body 
politic. 

Some  Results.  The  result  of  the  unlimited  struggle 
for  wealth  is  its  concentration  in  the  hands  of  the 
strong.  This  means  luxury  and  poverty  side  by  side. 
The  most  recent  study  of  the  distribution  of  wealth  in 
the  United  States  concludes  that  the  poorest  sixty-five 
per  cent,  of  the  people  control  not  much  more  than  a 
twentieth  part  of  the  property,  that  the  richest  two 
per  cent,  of  the  people  own  considerably  more  prop- 
erty than  all  the  rest  of  the  population.  It  also  states 
that  in  all  civilized  nations  most  of  the  wealth  is  in 
the  possession  of  one  fifth  of  the  inhabitants.  This 
means  not  only  the  concentration  of  wealth  but  also 
the  concentration  of  power.  It  means  the  ability  of 


204        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

the  group  of  property-owners  to  give  their  children 
better  physical  and  mental  development  than  can  be 
given  the  children  of  those  without  property.  It  means 
the  growth  of  a  special  privileged  class  at  one  end  of 
society  and  at  the  other  the  development  of  an  under- 
nourished, undereducated  class.  Such  conditions  gen- 
erate and  spread  jealousy,  envy,  and  hatred.  The  his- 
torians point  out  that  these  were  the  conditions  that 
preceded  the  fall  of  ancient  civilizations.  No  nation 
has  yet  been  able  to  endure  long  the  consequences  of 
extreme  concentration  of  wealth.  These  facts  raise  a 
duty  before  organized  religion.  If  it  would  save 
America,  it  must  deal  with  this  question  of  property- 
its  development,  its  ownership  and  its  use — just  as  did 
the  prophets  and  Jesus. 

Reform  or  Reconstruction?  As  the  churches  face 
this  issue,  they  must  decide  whether  they  will  stand 
for  reform  or  reconstruction  of  the  world  of  work  or 
for  both.  Will  the  industrial  system  be  made  Chris- 
tian by  simply  changing  the  rules  of  the  game,  by 
stopping  men  from  cheating,  from  being  unfair  and 
rough  and  brutal,  or  must  the  character  of  the  game 
itself  be  changed?  Will  better  management  do  what 
Christianity  demands  in  the  industrial  world,  or  must 
the  whole  nature  of  the  work  process  be  changed? 
It  is  like  asking  the  question  "can  war  be  human- 
ized?" By  what  rules  can  the  deadly  game  of  killing 
be  made  to  conform  with  the  ideals  of  Christianity? 
In  industry  the  question  goes  deeper  still.  Suppose 
we  change  one  part  of  the  nature  of  the  game  and 
substitute  a  cooperative  management  of  industry. 
Suppose  we  abolish  the  competitive  struggle  and  in 


MEN  AND  THINGS  205 

its  place  organize  the  cooperative  commonwealth, — 
will  this  then  remove  all  the  injustice,  the  bitterness, 
and  the  cruelty  of  industry?  The  answer  depends 
upon  what  purpose  is  behind  the  cooperative  common- 
wealth. For  what  end  is  it  being  managed  ?  To  what 
goal  is  it  working?  Why  does  it  make  goods?  If 
those  who  would  change  the  nature  of  the  manage- 
ment and  control  of  the  system  of  producing  and  dis- 
tributing the  goods  needed  by  mankind  have  no 
higher  purpose  than  to  make  and  distribute  things 
more  abundantly,  if  there  is  nothing  calling  them  ex- 
cept the  satisfaction  of  the  desire  for  comfortable  liv- 
ing, they  can  never  overcome  the  selfishness  of  man- 
kind or  stop  the  industrial  conflict.  The  real  bond- 
age of  the  toiling  multitudes  lies  deeper  than  the  rule 
of  one  group  over  another.  It  is  the  slavery  of  all 
society  to  low  ideals,  to  base  desires,  it  is  the  enslave- 
ment of  the  spirit  of  man  to  the  things  of  earth.  It 
is  the  "pride  of  life,  the  desire  of  the  eyes,  the  lusts 
of  the  flesh."  The  emancipation  of  the  workers  waits 
upon  the  general  acceptance  of  a  new  ideal  of  social 
living. 

The  Challenge  of  Jesus.  Jesus  saw  clearly  the  na- 
ture of  the  kingdom  of  this  world.  He  declared  that 
those  who  would  be  religious  could  not  serve  God  and 
Mammon.  He  knew  that  here  was  the  final  point  of 
conflict.  He  saw  into  the  heart  of  man.  He  under- 
stood the  evil  that  was  in  the  world  and  challenged  it 
upon  its  throne.  He  sought  to  establish  another  king- 
dom with  an  entirely  different  basis,  a  kingdom  which 
put  righteousness  before  the  increase  of  wealth,  whose 
motive  was  service  and  not  profit,  and  whose  citizens 


206        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

must  renounce  all  allegiance  to  Mammon.  The  devel- 
opment of  Christianity  justifies  this  emphasis  in  his 
teaching.  Is  not  the  last  struggle  of  the  church 
against  evil  the  struggle  to  overcome  the  desire  for 
gain  ?  The  first  issue  which  the  Christian  community 
joined  with  pagan  civilization  concerned  the  sins  of 
the  flesh.  But  in  many  a  life,  long  after  the  battle  for 
purity  has  been  won,  there  remains  to  be  fought  the 
struggle  for  release  from  the  desire  for  possessions. 
Among  the  followers  of  Jesus  there  is  still  a  large  field 
for  the  missionary  extension  of  the  gospel  in  the  rela- 
tions of  men  to  property. 

The  Danger  of  Riches.  There  is  no  more  signifi- 
cant part  of  Jesus*  teaching  than  his  discussion  of 
wealth.  There  is  no  more  significant  aspect  of  his  so- 
cial relationships  than  his  contact  with  the  wealthy. 
Great  fortunes  were  being  made  in  his  day.  They 
were  made  in  much  the  same  way  in  which  they  are 
developed  in  our  own  times.  The  men  of  strength 
used  their  strength  to  exploit  the  common  people. 
There  was  brutal  luxury  and  ghastly  poverty.  In  the 
Roman  world  the  rich  were  approaching  degeneracy 
and  leading  civilization  to  destruction.  A  man  like 
Julius  Csesar  had  to  leave  Rome  to  recruit  his  for- 
tunes after  the  expenditures  of  profligate  living.  In 
such  a  situation  Jesus  did  not  confuse  rich  men  with 
riches.  With  rich  men  he  had  friendly  fellowship,  but 
in  it  there  was  always  the  note  of  warning  and  of 
exhortation  for  the  peril  of  their  position.  He  showed 
them  no  deference,  but  only  the  same  respect  with 
which  he  approached  every  personality.  He  was  seek- 
ing no  subscription.  He  discharged  his  duty  to  their 


MEN  AND  THINGS  207 

souls.  He  showed  them  How  hard  it  was  for  them 
to  enter  the  kingdom  because  of  the  difficulty  of  main- 
taining the  fellowship  of  God  and  men  in  which  the 
kingdom  consists  when  one  is  set  for  the  pursuit  of 
riches.  That  quest  often  masters  a  man's  time,  at- 
tention, and  energy  to  the  exclusion  of  the  needs  of 
humanity,  and  even  to  the  neglect  of  his  own  family. 
Jesus'  message  to  a  wjealthy  and  wealth-seeking  world 
is :  What  shall  it  profit  a  man,  or  a  nation,  or  human- 
ity, if  it  can  increase  goods,  and  in  the  doing  of  it 
lose  its  own  soul?  It  is  a  message  which  must  be 
cried  in  the  ear  of  our  material  civilization. 

The  Blessings  of  Poverty.  How  different  is  Jesus' 
attitude  to  the  poor  and  the  helpless !  He  did  not  say, 
"blessed  is  poverty,"  but  "blessed  are  the  poor."  Is 
that  our  modern  Christian  attitude  toward  them  or 
do  we  in  effect  curse  them  because  they  are  weak  or 
shiftless  or  lazy?  Do  we  treat  them  as  though  they 
Were  delinquent,  to  be  punished  because  they  have  not 
made  more  money  or  merely  as  cases  to  be  studied 
and  analyzed?  As  we  give  or  send  to  them  our  mis- 
sions or  settlements,  do  we  in  our  self-righteousness 
thank  God  we  are  not  as  they?  Do  we  exalt  poverty 
as  a  blessing  when  we  are  unwilling  ourselves  to  share 
it  or  to  have  our  children  endure  it?  Blessed  indeed 
is  the  poverty  of  the  simple  life  that  means  health 
and  freedom  from  the  cares  of  riches,  that  stimulates 
energy  and  development.  But  cursed  is  the  poverty 
that  means  deprivation,  that  involves  the  lack  of  ne- 
cessities, that  means  undernourished  children,  bad 
housing,  little  education,  and  poor  moral  protection 
and  spiritual  development.  Blessed  indeed  are  the 


208        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

poor  who  have  set  themselves  free  from  the  bondage 
of  goods  and  learned  to  live  as  Jesus  did,  emancipated 
from  the  fetters  of  surplus  property,  but  able  to  se- 
cure sufficient  for  the  full  development  of  life.  The 
doctrine  of  simple  living  must  be  taught  until  it  be- 
comes the  recognized  rule  of  all  the  people,  because 
it  means  the  abundant  life  made  possible  for  all.  But 
those  who  would  carry  it  to  the  poor  must  first  have 
learned  to  express  it  in  their  own  lives. 

Ruler  or  Servant?  Jesus  recognizes  the  necessity 
of  goods.  There  is  a  place  for  property  in  his  scheme 
of  life.  He  tells  the  disciples  to  pray  for  bread.  "All 
these  things,"  he  says,  "shall  be  added."  The  devel- 
opment of  life  depends  upon  getting  enough  of  the 
right  kind  of  goods.  Without  the  means  to  nourish 
all  its  "faculties,  it  cannot  reach  its  full  stature.  To 
teach  people  how  to  select  the  things  that  make  for 
the  highest  life  and  then  leave  them  unable  to  secure 
these  things  is  to  mock  them.  A  poverty-stricken 
population  has  little  culture  and  religion.  The  king- 
dom of  God  in  its  fulness  depends  not  only  upon 
knowledge  and  righteousness  and  love  but  also  upon 
income.  The  desire  for  more  goods  is  one  of  the  forces 
of  spiritual  progress,  when  controlled  in  the  interests 
of  all  the  people,  and  directed  to  making  a  better 
world  for  to-morrow.  But  this  spiritual  force  be- 
comes destructive  when  it  is  followed  for  selfish  ends. 
If  one  seeks  merely  the  good  of  his  own  family,  then 
he  becomes  selfish  and  perhaps  an  exploiter  of  his 
brother  men.  That  is  why  prosperity  is  so  hard  to 
stand,  because  it  is  sought  and  used  for  selfish  ends. 
The  sudden  increase  of  wealth,  whether  it  be  the 


MEN  AND  THINGS  209 

wages  of  munition  workers  or  the  millionaires  of  a 
new  trust,  usually  means  the  disruption  of  morals  and 
of  family  life.  Like  fire,  property  is  a  bad  master  but 
a  fine  servant.  Jesus  made  it  a  means  to  the  end  of 
developing  the  kingdom  of  God  upon  the  earth.  Only 
those  who  have  learned  this  lesson  are  able  to  with- 
stand its  dangers. 

The  Place  of  Prosperity.  Neither  were  the  prophets 
nor  was  Jesus  afraid  of  prosperity.  They  talk  constant- 
ly of  a  land  "flowing  with  milk  and  honey/'  of  peace 
and  plenty,  of  more  abundant  life,  "a  hundredfold  more 
in  this  world,"  as  well  as  life  everlasting  in  the  world 
to  come.  This  is  because  goods  are  considered,  not 
as  an  end  to  be  sought  for  their  own  sake,  but  a 
means  to  the  greater  end  of  spiritual  living.  To  seek 
prosperity  merely  for  its  own  satce  is  to  leave  men  like 
fatted  swine,  slumbering  in  their  sties  in  ignoble  con- 
tentment. To  use  goods  as  a  means  to  a  higher  end 
is  to  spur  men  continually  to  justice  and  righteous- 
ness and  to  further  development  of  the  soul.  "What 
need  will  there  be  for  the  social  passion?"  said  a 
worker  for  social  reconstruction,  "when  men  have  all 
the  goods  they  need?"  This  is  to  leave  men  wallow- 
ing in  the  muck  of  material  contentment.  But  the  fol- 
lowers of  him  who  said,  "Be  ye  therefore  perfect  even 
as  your  Father  in  heaven  is  perfect,"  are  continually 
climbing  new  mountain  ranges  of  living,  and  they  use 
the  things  of  this  world  to  make  them  strong  for  the 
adventure. 

Property  and  Life,  One  of  the  social  principles  of 
Jesus,  underlying  his  whole  ministry,  is  that  the  de- 
velopment of  life  and  not  of  things  is  the  true  goal  of 


210        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

social  living.  In  every  land  and  in  all  the  development 
of  civilization  there  has  been  a  constant  struggle  be- 
tween property  and  life.  The  dean  of  the  Harvard 
Law  School  says  that  the  greatest  gain  in  thought  in 
the  last  century  was  the  transference  of  value  from 
the  sphere  of  property  to  the  sphere  of  human  life. 
Here  is  evidence  of  the  spread  of  Christianity,  but  even 
in  this  twentieth  Christian  century  so  much  of  pagan 
law  and  custom  still  remains  that  in  many  instances 
the  life  of  the  worker  has  been  held  of  less  worth  than 
the  property  right  of  the  employer.  In  one  state  a 
workmen's  compensation  law  to  take  the  burden  of 
industrial  accident  from  the  backs  of  the  overloaded 
workers  and  put  it  on  the  industry  that  employed 
them  and  thence  on  the  shoulders  of  the  whole  com- 
munity was  thrown  out  of  the  supreme  court  on  the 
ground  that  it  interfered  with  the  employer's  property 
without  due  process  of  law.  There  was  no  recognition 
of  the  fact  that  the  unprotected  worker's  life  was  be- 
ing taken  away  from  him  and  his  earnings  from  his 
family  without  due  process  of  law.  In  order  to  pre- 
vent judicial  decisions  which  treat  labor  merely  as 
property  a  clause  was  inserted  in  the  last  anti-trust 
bill  which  declares  that  labor  is  not  a  commodity.  La- 
bor leaders  have  declared  that  they  will  not  obey 
court  decisions  which  treat  their  people  merely  as 
property.  They  protest  that  they  are  not  mere  mate- 
rial for  the  making  of  goods,  but  immortal  souls.  Our 
whole  social  welfare  legislation  proceeds  on  this  basis. 
Its  framers  have  heard  the  words  of  Jesus  that  a  man 
is  more  than  a  sheep — meaning  in  modern  times  that 
he  is  more  than  all  property.  This  teaching  of  com- 


MEN  AND  THINGS  211 

parative  values  comes  out  of  the  ancient  Hebrew  law. 
The  prior  right  of  humanity  over  property  was  estab- 
lished in  the  legislation  which  permitted  the  hungry 
worker  to  gather  the  grain  in  the  wheat-field.  It  was 
the  property  of  the  owner,  but  the  hungry  man  must 
be  fed.  For  the  strength  of  the  community,  the  satis- 
faction of  his  need  was  more  important  than  private 
rights  in  property.  Jesus  even  declared  that  the  needs 
of  the  hungry  man  were  superior  to  the  rights  of  prop- 
erty dedicated  to  sacred  purposes.  When  he  justified 
David  for  taking  the  shewbread  upon  the  altar  he 
taught  that  nothing  was  more  sacred  than  human 
need.  This  principle  has  far-reaching  implications. 

A  Missionary  Objective.  Those  who  set  themselves 
to  carry  out  the  teachings  of  Jesus  in  modern  life  must 
apply  this  principle  of  life's  superiority  to  property  in 
its  furthest  outreachings.  It  has  already  been  estab- 
lished in  measures  protecting  women  and  children  in 
industry  and  in  other  social  legislation  which  both 
uses  property  and  limits  its  rights  in  order  to  develop 
the  higher  human  interests  of  the  community.  The 
principle  will  go  very  much  further  than  these  reform 
measures.  Its  application  involves  reconstruction.  It 
will  require  a  new  motive  in  the  whole  world  of  work. 
It  will  mean  that  the  process  of  industry  has  to  be 
regenerated,  that  it  has  to  find  a  new  spirit  and  a  new 
purpose.  The  world  of  work  has  been  seeking  goods 
largely  for  their  own  sake  without  any  conception  of 
their  meaning.  Hence  it  has  found  itself  involved  in 
all  struggle  and  strife.  The  acquisitive  instinct,  the 
desire  to  gather  possessions,  which  is  behind  this  sit- 
uation, is  one  of  the  fundamental  social  instincts.  It 


212        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

cannot  be  eradicated,  but  like  the  instinct  of  sex,  it 
can  be  guided  and  directed  toward  high  ideals.  It 
can  be  used  for  spiritual  ends.  It  can  be  saved  from 
becoming  an  instrument  of  destruction  and  can  be 
made  a 'means  for  the  development  of  the  higher  life 
of  the  individual  and  of  society.  The  final  missionary 
task  of  Christianity  in  the  world  of  work  is  to  change 
the  direction  and  goal  of  the  acquisitive  instinct. 

Spiritualizing  Wealth  Production.  There  is  a  teach- 
ing which  declares  that  the  manner  in  which  society 
produces  and  distributes  the  goods  necessary  to  its 
well-being  and  development  determines  its  form  and 
character.  The  advocates  of  this  philosophy  have 
spread  it  among  the  wage-earners  with  true  mission- 
ary fervor.  To  change  the  economic  system  is  to 
change  all  of  life,  in  their  belief.  But  the  economic 
system,  in  the  last  analysis,  consists  in  certain  work- 
ing relationships  between  men,  and  between  them  and 
the  things  they  need  for  life.  We  have  seen  how 
these  relationships  affect  the  welfare  of  individuals  and  of 
the  community.  We  have  also  seen  how  they  can  be 
changed.  This  knowledge  enables  us  to  answer  the 
challenge  of  working-class  philosophers  to  change  the 
economic  system,  with  the  determination  to  control 
the  whole  process  of  wealth-making  and  wealth-shar- 
ing by  wills  which  are  set  in  harmony  with  the  will 
of  the  Eternal,  which  are  determined  to  work  out  his 
justice  and  righteousness  in  human  brotherhood. 

The  Use  of  Property.  The  churches  have  already 
declared  themselves  through  the  Federal  Council  as 
standing  for  "a  new  emphasis  upon  the  Christian  prin- 
ciples in  relation  to  the  acquisition  and  use  of  prop- 


MEN  AND  THINGS  213 

erty."  This  latest  missionary  enterprise,  like  the  first, 
must  begin  at  Jerusalem.  There  has  long  been  a 
teaching  in  the  Christian  church  concerning  the  use  of 
the  property  which  a  man  has  acquired.  This  teach- 
ing is  based  upon  the  principle  of  stewardship.  It 
declares  that  all  that  a  Christian  owns,  after  the  wel- 
fare of  those  dependent  upon  him  is  provided  for, 
should  be  used  for  the  extension  of  the  gospel.  This 
principle  of  stewardship  rests  back  on  the  absolute 
ownership  of  God.  It  declares  that  he,  and  he  alone, 
is  the  final  owner  of  all  wealth,  because  the  natural 
resources  from  which  it  comes  were  created  by  him; 
that  therefore  when  the  labor  of  men  turns  these  re- 
sources into  things  valuable  to  society,  this  wealth 
must  be  regarded  as  a  trust,  and  its  maker  as  a  trustee 
who  must  give  account  of  his  stewardship  to  the  real 
owner.  This  teaching  is  behind  all  the  support  of 
the  church,  its  education,  missions,  and  philanthropy. 
The  church  is  now  attempting  to  carry  this  principle 
back  to  the  acquisition  of  property  as  well  as  to  its 
use.  It  is  now  to  be  applied  to  the  energies,  capacities, 
and  abilities  of  men  as  well  as  to  the  results  of  their 
labor. 

The  Question  of  Luxury.  The  principle  of  steward- 
ship in  the  use  of  property  raises  the  question  of  lux- 
ury. Modern  society  is  extravagant  and  luxurious. 
It  wastes  more  than  it  uses.  Not  simply  the  idle  rich, 
but  many  of  the  idle  and  partly  idle  middle  class  are 
constantly  flaunting  their  useless  expenditures  in  the 
face  of  those  who  have  not  sufficient  to  provide  a 
healthy  life.  One  of  the  great  causes  of  poverty  is 
the  waste  in  luxury  of  the  labor  and  materials  that 


214         THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

would  give  the  necessities  to  many  needy  lives.  For 
those  who  indulge  in  luxury,  it  means  weakness  and 
finally  degeneracy.  When  the  world  is  in  bitter  suf- 
fering, to  what  extent  can  Christians  justify  them- 
selves for  indulging  in  expenditures  for  things  which 
are  not  necessary  to  the  development  of  personality? 
In  war  time  economy  becomes  a  necessity  and  thrift 
a  virtue.  Christian  teaching  makes  it  a  duty  at  all 
times.  Jesus  lived  and  taught  the  simple  life.  His 
church  is  under  obligation  to  free  itself  from  the  evil 
of  luxury.  It  cannot  be  justified  for  sharing  in  the  ex- 
travagance of  the  world  in  its  entertainments.  Dinners 
of  missionary  and  other  religious  organizations  at  five 
dollars  a  plate  bring  against  the  church  not  only  the 
judgment  of  the  poor  but  the  very  judgment  of  God. 

How  Is  It  Made?  To  Christianize  the  acquisition 
of  wealth  means  that  the  principle  of  stewardship  is 
pushed  back  from  a  man's  wealth  to  his  ability,  from 
the  things  which  he  has  made  to  the  energies  with 
which  he  has  made  them.  It  is  often  impossible  to 
use  wealth  in  such  a  way  as  to  atone  or  make  amends 
for  unchristian  conduct  in  its  making.  The  attitude 
can  be  changed,  but  not  the  consequences.  The 
wound  can  be  healed,  but  the  scar  remains.  A  man 
of  wealth  was  proud  of  his  subscriptions  to  anti- 
tuberculosis  work,  but  his  factory,  with  its  dirt  and 
dust  and  bad  air  and  heat,  was  continually  breeding 
tuberculosis  among  his  employees.  Nothing  which  his 
money  could  do  would  check  the  white  plague  as  fast 
as  it  was  being  spread  by  the  manner  in  which  his 
money  was  being  made.  There  are  gifts  that  hurt  in- 
stead of  help  because  they  were  made  in  evil.  When 


MEN  AND  THINGS  215 

money  that  is  made  by  unchristian  labor  conditions  im- 
posed upon  ignorant  immigrants  is  spent  in  the  prop- 
agation of  the  gospel  among  that  group,  it  can  never 
adequately  overcome  the  attitude  which  its  making 
has  engendered.  It  has  destroyed  the  possibility  of 
brotherhood  until  restoration  is  made.  It  has  violated 
the  very  gospel  which  it  is  seeking  to  proclaim.  The 
work  of  the  missionary  cannot  get  beyond  the  deeds 
of  the  men  who  support  him.  If  they  desire  America 
to  become  Christian,  they  must  Christianize  their  part 
in  its  work  life.  This  is  beginning  at  the  source  of 
things. 

The  Fundamentals.  Society  depends  upon  the  re- 
lationships of  sex  which  perpetuate  it  and  upon  the 
relationships  of  work  which  maintain  it.  If  these 
fundamental  basic  relationships  are  brought  into  har- 
mony with  the  teaching  of  Jesus,  the  rest  of  society 
will  more  easily  be  made  and  kept  Christian.  Unless 
this  be  done,  there  cannot  long  be  maintained  the 
Christian  home  or  the  Christian  state  or  even  the 
Christian  church,  for  an  unchristian  sex  life  or  an 
unchristian  work  life  destroys  them.  The  work  proc- 
ess itself  must  be  carried  on  as  a  missionary  enter- 
prise. It  must  extend  God  in  life.  It  must  develop 
the  life  of  the  spirit  as  Jesus  developed  it  at  the  car- 
penter's bench.  It  must  continually  unfold,  reveal, 
and  proclaim  God  to  life  as  Jesus  did. 

The  Coming  Missionary.  There  are  some  Christian 
leaders  who,  in  addition  to  giving  their  money  to  the 
spread  of  the  gospel,  are  giving  their  lives,  their 
brains,  their  energies  to  the  working  out  of  it  in  their 
relationships  in  the  financial  and  industrial  world. 


"For  He  Had  Great  Possessions." 

— By  George  Frederick  Watts. 


MEN  AND  THINGS  217 

They  are  themselves  real  missionaries.  If  a  great  cor- 
poration, instead  of  merely  putting  money  into  mis- 
sionary work  at  home  or  abroad,  would  dedicate  all 
its  energies  to  the  task  of  so  transforming  the  indus- 
trial process  which  it  carries  on  as  to  make  it  Chris- 
tian, what  effect  would  that  have  upon  the  working 
world,  especially  upon  the  attitude  to  Christianity  of 
those  who  are  not  Christians?  As  well  as  to  give 
money  for  the  extension  of  the  gospel,  it  is  necessary 
also  to  give  life.  If  the  ordinary  processes  of  life  are 
made  Christian,  there  will  be  less  need  of  the  ex- 
traordinary philanthropic  agencies  of  Christianity.  If 
industry  pays  a  living  wage,  it  will  have  less  people 
to  support  by  charity.  This  change  must  begin  in  the 
church.  Here  at  Jerusalem  the  gospel  must  first  be 
proclaimed.  In  one  city  a  church  has  its  endowment 
invested  in  tenements.  Their  housing  conditions  used 
to  be  a  by-word  among  social  workers  and  finally  be- 
came an  open  disgrace  in  the  eyes  of  all  the  people. 
Until  it  Christianized  the  making  of  its  own  money, 
it  could  not  effectively  help  to  Christianize  the  com- 
munity life.  Most  of  the  great  denominations  carry 
on  printing  businesses  to  get  out  their  publications. 
What  other  chance  have  they  so  effectivefy  to  pro- 
claim the  gospel  of  Jesus  to  the  world  of  labor  as  to 
put  it  into  absolute  practise  in  all  their  dealings  with 
their  employees? 

Finding  Brotherhood.  The  goalof  missionary  ef- 
fort is  the  realization  of  a  great  brotherhood  of  all 
mankind,  united  in  love  and  fellowship  with  the  All- 
Father.  But  brotherhood  must  be  something  more 
than  a  spiritual  ideal ;  it  must  be  a  fact  in  the  work- 


218        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  'WORLD 

ing  world.  The  compulsion  is  upon  us  to  find  its 
economic  meaning.  A  little  church  was  split  in  two 
factions  and  its  usefulness  destroyed  because  one  of 
its  leaders  entered  the  same  kind  of  business  in  which 
another  leader  was  engaged  and  there  was  not  enough 
trade  in  the  town  to  maintain  them  both.  Not  even 
in  the  church  can  brotherhood  be  maintained  unless  it 
be  carried  out  into  the  working  transactions  of  life. 
The  only  way  to  realize  God  in  the  community  is  to 
express  him  in  justice  and  righteousness  and  love  of 
brotherhood  in  all  the  working  affairs  of  the  common 
life.  The  world  waits  for  that  incarnation. 

Making  Property  Sacred.  When  property  is  made 
in  the  spirit  and  practise  of  brotherhood,  when  it  is 
used  as  a  means  to  further  the  development  of  all  the 
community,  it  becomes  truly  sacred,  not  because  some- 
body owns  it,  not  because  the  law  protects  it,  but  be- 
cause of  what  has  gone  into  it,  because  also  of  its 
purpose  and  use.  Into  it  have  gone  the  energies  of 
God  and  then  the  energies  of  man.  If  the  result  is 
only  poverty  and  luxury,  want  and  waste,  bitterness 
and  strife,  these  energies  are  worse  than  wasted. 
Such  a  use  of  property  and  the  power  to  make  it  is 
both  blasphemous  and  sacrilegious.  It  prostitutes  the 
high  energies  of  God  and  the  labor  of  man  to  the  de- 
struction of  the  community.  But  if  property  is  used 
to  develop  the  spiritual  life  of  the  community,  then  the 
energies  that  went  into  it  realize  their  highest  values. 
They  become  one  of  the  most  powerful  forces  in  the 
redemption  of  the  human  race. 

Will  It  Work?  To  the  proclamation  of  this  ideal 
the  practical  world  continually  protests,  "It  cannot 


MEN  AND  THINGS  219 

be  done."  The  perennial  question  even  among  Chris- 
tians is  whether  Christianity  is  practicable — whether 
the  gospel  will  work.  "You  can't  change  human 
nature,"  is  the  old  stock  objection.  But  human  nature 
is  being  constantly  changed.  What  is  happening  in 
the  case  of  the  twice-born  men  whom  Christianity  is 
constantly  creating?  The  same  transformations  of 
human  nature  are  being  continually  accomplished  in 
community  life.  When  the  head-hunters  of  Borneo 
become  peaceful  citizens  in  a  Christian  community, 
has  not  human  nature  been  changed?  Set  a  painted 
savage  from  the  woods  of  Britain  in  the  period  be- 
fore the  Roman  conquest  alongside  a  cultivated  Eng- 
lish Christian  of  to-day,  and  see  if  human  nature  has 
not  been  changed!  That  is  precisely  what  the  gos- 
pel does.  To  refuse  to  believe  that  it  can  in  the  future 
make  changes  as  great  as  it  has  made  in  the  past  is 
to  refuse  to  be  a  Christian.  "Greater  things  than 
these  shall  ye  do  also,"  said  the  Master.  This  is  the 
promise  that  belongs  to  those  who  have  faith  and 
courage  to  try  it. 

The  Question  of  Method.  The  missionary  duty  of 
the  church  does  not  end  with  the  proclamation  of  the 
Christian  ideal  concerning  property  or  with  the  en- 
deavor to  arouse  the  faith  and  courage  that  will  at- 
tempt the  realization  of  this  ideal.  There  is  a  fur- 
ther responsibility  to  approve  and  support  the  meth- 
ods of  ownership  and  management  which  embody 
Christian  principles  and  which  move  in  the  direction 
of  the  Christian  goal.  The  Federal  Council  of 
Churches  declares  for  "the  most  equitable  division  of 
the  product  of  industry  that  can  ultimately  be  de- 


220        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

vised."  Then  church-members  and  church  groups 
must  seek  for  and  support  those  plans  of  industrial 
management  and  those  measures  of  taxation  and  com- 
munity control  of  industry  and  commerce  which  will 
more  equitably  distribute  the  income  of  the  nation. 
Following  this  path  of  duty  one  Christian  wage- 
earner  decided  to  spend  his  energy  in  organizing'a 
union  in  his  craft ;  a  capitalist  worked  out  a  plan  of 
profit-sharing  to  enable  the  wage-earners  in  the  cotton- 
mill  of  which  he  was  president  to  share  equitably 
with  the  owners  of  invested  capital  in  the  net  profits 
of  the  concern  and  to  come  presently  to  share  in  its 
control;  still  another  decided  to  devote  his  inherited 
fortune  to  the  support  of  a  propaganda  which  pro- 
poses to  substitute  ownership  by  all  the  people  for 
the  capitalist  ownership  of  industry. 

Cooperative  Ownership.  The  Federal  Council  of 
Churches  has  declared  for  "the  fullest  possible  co- 
operative ownership  of  both  industry  and  the  natural 
resources  upon  which  industry  depends,"  as  the  ex- 
pression of  the  Christian  ideal.  But  there  is  no  fixed 
formula  for  achieving  that  end.  A  particular  measure 
may  express  the  Christian  ideal  for  that  particular 
time  in  that  particular  circumstance,  but  no  platform 
will  ever  hold  the  Christian  ideal  for  all  time.  The 
political  goal  of  the  industrial  workers  of  all  lands, 
as  they  become  conscious  of  themselves  as  a  class  is 
the  "collective  ownership  and  the  democratic  manage- 
ment of  the  means  of  production  and  distribution." 
But  this  principle  is  capable  of  varying  practical  in- 
terpretation. A  new  party  is  now  being  organized 
in  the  United  States  by  the  amalgamation  of  several 


MEN  AND  THINGS  221 

reform  and  radical  groups,  which  declares  for  "a 
policy  of  public  ownership  to  be  progressively  applied 
to  the  organized  industries  of  the  nation."  In  out- 
lining the  "steps  toward  the  realization  of  this  indus- 
trial democracy"  this  platform  states:  "It  is  desirable 
that  our  citizens  should  be  free  to  venture  their  earn- 
ings in  the  upbuilding  of  new  forms  of  industry.  .  .  . 
We  do  not  object  to  the  continuance  of  private  enter- 
prise in  such  fields  so  long  as  the  gains  derived  there- 
from are  earned."  The  Labor  Party,  the  new  political 
amalgamation  in  England  of  the  trade-unionists,  the 
Socialists,  and  the  cooperatives  "leaves  it  open  to 
choose  from  time  to  time  whatever  forms  of  common 
ownership,  from  the  cooperative  store  to  the  national- 
ized railroad,  and  whatever  forms  of  popular  adminis- 
tration and  control  of  industry,  from  national  guilds 
to  ministries  of  employment  and  municipal  manage- 
ment, may  in  particular  cases  commend  themselves." 
Society  can  never  be  fitted  with  a  ready-made  suit  of 
clothes.  Life  is  a  continued  becoming,  and  the  gospel 
of  Jesus  is  a  leaven  that  not  only  grows  with  life  but 
also  causes  its  growth.  It  continually  develops  new 
social  forms  and  institutions  to  express  its  spirit  and 
purpose.  Just  now  it  is  creating  these  new  expressions 
in  the  industrial  world. 

What  About  Rewards?  One  reason  why  many  peo- 
ple who  pride  themselves  upon  being  practical  think 
that  the  principle  of  cooperative  ownership  will  not 
work  is  because  they  believe  that  human  nature  re- 
quires the  stimulus  of  possible  ownership  of  great  pos- 
sessions to  bring  out  its  initiative  and  energies.  But 
the  records  of  science,  invention,  and  social  advance 


222        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

are  full  of  great  achievements  by  men  who  have  never 
sought  nor  been  rewarded  with  money.  Like  Jesus 
of  Nazareth,  they  have  lived  and  died  for  human  wel- 
fare. They  labored  and  suffered  for  the  love  of  hu- 
manity. Their  motive  was  service,  and  this  motive 
will  hold  in  the  industrial  world  as  well.  Profit- 
making  business  has  tried  in  vain  to  tempt  by  large 
salaries  cooperative  managers  in  England  and  public 
servants  in  this  country  to  forsake  their  posts.  Under 
the  cooperative  method,  ability  is  developed  by  the 
challenge  to  serve  the  common  weal  to  the  utmost,  and 
it  is  rewarded  by  the  appreciation  of  the  community 
and  the  consciousness  of  service  rendered.  Income  is 
not  equal.  It  is  proportioned  to  service  rendered  but 
is  never  considered  as  the  full  measure  of  service,  and 
there  is  no  unearned  income.  In  the  interests  of  the 
recipients  as  well  as  of  the  common  welfare,  it  is  kept 
below  the  point  of  luxury,  and  in  the  same  interest 
this  principle,  as  well  as  the  principle  that  all  income 
must  be  earned,  should  be  applied  to  those  areas  of 
industry  which  must  for  a  long  time  to  come  remain 
the  fields  of  private  enterprise  and  ownership.  An 
American  philosopher  has  recently  pointed  out  that 
society  needs  a  "new  principle  of  pecuniary  reward." 
Certainly  a  form  of  society  which  pays  one  man 
$1,000,000  a  year  for  doing  nothing  but  being  the  son 
of  his  father,  another  man  $50,000  a  year  for  supplying 
the  brains  for  managing  the  enterprise  that  the  first 
man's  father  started,  and  still  other  men  $600  a  year 
for  supplying  the  labor,  cannot  claim  to  have  achieved 
either  justice  or  efficiency  in  the  matter  of  rewarding 
and  stimulating  ability.  To  apply  to  industry  the  mo- 


i 


MEN  AND  THINGS  223 

tive  and  reward  of  service  which  Jesus  taught  and 
manifested  and  which  operates  so  beneficially  in 
science  and  art,  in  preaching  and  teaching,  in  medicine 
and  missions,  is  one  of  the  pioneer  tasks  awaiting 
present-day  Christians. 

The  Call  to  Pioneers.  To  Christianize  the  world  of 
industry  is  indeed  a  new  adventure  for  God.  Here 
are  new  continents  to  be  discovered,  new  territories 
to  be  settled.  The  trails  to  them  have  to  be  opened 
up.  There  are  higher  ranges  of  living  to  be  reached 
where  as  yet  the  advance-guard  of  humanity  has  not 
camped.  To  be  a  Christian  to-day  is  to  be  an  explorer, 
a  discoverer.  It  is  the  great  adventure  of  the  age  to 
find  out  how  the  principles  of  Jesus  can  be  made  to 
work  in  the  actual  tasks  of  life.  To  make  work  and 
government  Christian — this  is  our  great  objective.  To 
be  a  Christian  to-day  is  not  simply  to  accept  a  body 
of  truth,  not  merely  to  live  according  to  certain  rules, 
but  to  find  out  how  the  great  principles  that  Jesus 
gave  mankind  can  be  translated  into  character  and 
conduct,  individual  and  social.  A  new  world  has  to 
be  made.  The  one  in  which  humanity  is  now  living 
is  intolerable  to  both  our  reason  and  our  conscience. 
Who  will  dare  to  be  a  Christian? 

A  Personal  Obligation.  The  task  of  Christianizing 
the  life  of  the  world  is  not  to  be  left  to  a  few  great- 
hearted missionaries  who  dare  to  go  out  in  lonely  iso- 
lation to  carry  the  gospel  to  new  lands  and  unoccupied 
territory.  It  is  a  community  matter,  to  be  worked  out 
by  individuals,  and  in  it  all  must  take  a  part.  Unless 
all  participate  it  cannot  be  done.  The  question  for 
each  individual  is  whether,  in  his  work  relationships, 


224        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

in  his  contacts  with  the  world  of  production  and  con- 
sumption, he  is  a  Christian.  What  do  you  seek  first 
in  life — money  or  character?  the  goods  of  the  world 
or  the  things  of  the  spirit?  Will  property  use  you  or 
will  you  use  it?  Will  it  become  a  millstone  around 
your  neck  to  drag  you  down  into  the  depths  of  low 
living,  or  will  it  be  a  tool  which  you  will  use  to  help 
your  fellow  men  to  build  on  earth  the  holy  city  of 
God?  Are  your  expenditures  being  made  in  such  a 
way  as  to  contribute  most  to  your  life  and  to  the  life 
of  others?  As  a  purchaser  are  you  seeing  that  no 
burdens  are  placed  upon  the  lives  of  others  because 
of  your  comfort?  As  an  investor  are  your  hands 
clean?  Do  you  actively  support  these  governmental 
policies  which  will  make  for  the  Christianizing  of  the 
world  of  work?  These  and  a  number  of  other  ques- 
tions must  be  answered  personally  by  Christians.  The 
contact  of  Christians  with  the  world  of  work  must 
be  a  missionary  contact,  must  help  to  bring  it  into 
harmony  with  the  purpose  of  Jesus.  Then  bit  by  bit, 
here  a  little  and  there  a  little,  the  transformation  will 
be  accomplished  which  will  make  the  world  of  work 
one  of  the  expressions  of  God  upon  the  earth. 


I/ 


vin 

NEW  FRONTIERS 


Aim:     To  show  why  and  how  home  missions  must 
undertake  a  propaganda  to  make  industry  Christian. 


VIII 
NEW  FRONTIERS 

The  Challenge.  The  spirit  of  home  missions  would 
carry  all  the  benefits  of  Christianity  to  the  last  and 
least  man.  That  man  in  this  country  is  the  "down- 
and-out,"  who  beats  his  way  from  city  to  city,  sleeps 
in  a  ten-cent  lodging-house,  a  hallway,  or  on  a  bench  in 
the  park.  Sometimes  he  is  a  man  fallen  from  good 
estate  by  folly;  usually  he  was  born  a  wage-earner. 
He  has  felt  the  full  brunt  of  our  industrial  system. 
He  is  one  of  the  victims  of  the  industrial  conflict. 
Once  he  wanted  to  work;  now  he  does  not.  We  de- 
spise him  for  it,  but  he  literally  cannot  work.  He  has 
lost  both  the  physical  and  nervous  capacity  for  sus- 
tained labor,  partly  because  industry  long  since  took 
too  freely  of  his  energy,  partly  because  of  his  own 
habits.  He  is  eaten  up  with  liquor  and  venereal  dis- 
ease. But  for  how  much  of  his  habits  are  his  living 
and  working  conditions  responsible?  Who  of  us  can 
be  sure  we  would  have  done  any  better  if  forced  to  his 
experience  of  life  through  childhood  and  youth?  To 
reach  such  a  man  the  church  is  sincerely  anxious.  It 
spends  money  and  sends  workers  to  hold  services.  Yet 
their  converts  increase  not  so  fast  as  the  numbers  of 
"down-and-out's"  remorselessly  thrown  off  by  the 
ever-turning  wheels  of  the  industrial  system.  The  at- 
titude of  most  of  them  to  the  efforts  of  the  churches 
is  thus  reported: 

227 


228        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

Singin'  hymns  an*  singin'  hymns, 

Screechin'  fit  to  croak; 
Save  a  guy  on  Sunday ! 

(Say,  dat's  a  joke!) 

I  don't  want  no  prayin',  bo, 

Ain't  particular  where  I  go,— 
Slip  me  just  five  c's  er  so 

Fer  coffee  an'  a  smoke. 

The  Challenge  Repeated.  If  such  an  attitude  is  a 
challenge  to  the  churches  to  examine  its  program  for 
extending  churches  and  multiplying  preachers,  the  at- 
titude toward  the  church  and  religion  of  the  great  mul- 
titudes doing  the  hard  and  common  work  of  life  re- 
iterates and  strengthens  that  challenge.  Our  study  has 
shown  us  how  this  attitude  runs  all  the  way  from  the 
apathy  of  the  unorganized  twelve-hour  man,  "too  dead 
tired  to  go  to  church  or  even  to  read/'  to  the  bitter 
hostility  of  such  a  leader  as  told  a  national  gathering 
of  clergymen:  "The  church  is  nothing  but  a  useless 
appendix  to  modern  society,  and  by  God,  we  work- 
ingmen  are  going  to  cut  it  out."  Our  study  has  shown 
us  how  these  attitudes  have  developed.  It  has 
pointed  out  the  inevitable  results  of  the  long  day's 
work,  the  scanty  pay  envelop,  and  industrial  war. 
Is  not  the  lesson  now  clear?  If  the  attempt  to  evan- 
gelize the  individuals  who  are  exposed  to  such  condi- 
tions is  to  succeed,  the  church  must  carry  its  program 
of  evangelization  out  to  the  conditions  which  are  com- 
peting with  it  for  the  control  of  the  lives  of  the  people 
it  is  seeking  to  reach.  The  increase  of  buildings  and 
services  designed  to  minister  to  the  inner  needs  of 
life  alone  leaves  the  toilers  for  the  most  part  un- 
moved. The  great  mass  remain  little  changed  by  all 


NEW  FRONTIERS  229 

the  efforts  of  the  churches.  This  is  not  due  so  much 
to  the  lack  of  faith  or  courage  or  desire  on  the  part 
of  religious  organizations  as  to  the  fact  that  the  bar- 
riers of  hostile  economic  conditions  stretch  clear 
across  the  path  of  approach  to  the  industrial  work- 
ers. These  must  be  removed  before  the  gospel  can 
be  glorified. 

New  Missionary  Territory.  The  fact  that  the  gospel 
must  reach  and  transform  industrial  conditions  and 
relations  before  it  can  successfully  reach  the  industrial 
workers  is  seen  more  clearly  still  when  we  pass  from 
individuals  to  groups,  from  persons  to  the  mass.  Let  a 
Sunday-school  or  a  club  be  started  for  the  children 
engaged  in  street  trades — the  newsboys,  the  messen- 
gers, the  venders  of  pencils  and  gum  and  shoe-laces — 
and  at  once  something  more  is  needed.  This  group 
of  child  workers  suffers  terribly  from  venereal  dis- 
ease, developed  by  the  temptations  of  the  streets.  An 
adequate  Christian  program  means  their  rescue  from 
this*  evil.  It  means  that  the  community  will  so  regu- 
late the  trades  that  children  follow  on  the  streets  as 
to  prevent  the  development  of  immorality.  There  are 
scant  results  to  be  gathered  from  preaching  the  gospel 
of  love  to  groups  of  workers  in  whose  lives  injustice 
is  continually  breeding  hate  and  revenge.  For  such 
a  gospel  to  reach  men  who  know  they  are  not  get- 
ting all  that  their  hands  create  it  must  first  be  power- 
ful enough  in  the  lives  of  those  who  profess  it  to  gen- 
erate such  love  for  those  who  work  for  them  as  to 
make  absolutely  impossible  any  condition  of  injustice. 
Such  practical  demonstration  of  the  reality  of  Chris- 
tianity will  be  the  most  effective  preaching  for  the 


230        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

group  of  workers  whose  lives  are  now  being  closed 
to  the  great  precepts  of  the  gospel  by  the  bitterness 
of  suffering. 

Trying  to  Be  Christians.  It  is  not  only  among  cer- 
tain groups  of  wage-earners  that  the  extension  of  the 
gospel  is  blocked  by  unchristian  industrial  conditions. 
The  same  fact  is  constantly  to  be  observed  among  the 
directors  and  beneficiaries  of  the  industrial  process.  "A 
man  cannot  be  the  kind  of  Christian  you  are  talking 
about  and  run  a  cotton-mill  in  this  town,"  said  a  su- 
perintendent. "I  have  to  produce  a  certain  amount  of 
cloth  for  each  machine  according  to  the  plans  of  the 
efficiency  experts.  If  a  widow  with  four  children  is 
working  on  one  of  those  machines  and  cannot  turn 
out  the  required  amount,  I  cannot  stop  to  think  of 
her  needs, — I  must  get  somebody  else  who  can  do  it. 
I  must  produce  the  dividends  for  the  treasurer  to  pay 
our  stockholders/'  Here  cries  the  new  conscience  of 
the  modern  manager  of  industry,  caught  between  the 
upper  and  the  nether  millstones.  "How  can  we  main- 
tain the  standards  of  hours  and  wages  which  Chris- 
tianity and  social  justice  require,  and  meet  the  com- 
petition of  the  present  industrial  order?"  is  the  con- 
stant cry  of  business  men.  They  feel  the  gap  between 
the  wonJ  of  worship  and  the  world  of  work.  When 
they  go  from  the  family  circle  or  the  church  fellow- 
ship into  the  office,  the  factory,  or  the  mill,  they  feel 
that  they  are  going  into  a  world  where  different  stand- 
ards prevail.  The  revolt  of  their  conscience,  which  is 
often  unavailing,  is  one  of  the  spiritual  tragedies  of 
the  modern  world.  It  is  akin  to  the  revolt  of  the 
Christian  conscience  against  war  in  a  world  in  which 


NEW  FRONTIERS  231 

men  continue  to  think  that  fighting  must  be  done. 

What  Must  We  Do  ?  Recently  a  young  preacher  in 
a  small  town  espoused  the  cause  of  a  group  of  un- 
skilled immigrants  who  were  striking  because  they 
were  not  receiving  a  living  wage.  "What  shall  I 
do?"  said  the  leading  employer;  "tell  me  how  I  can 
do  justice."  Eventually  he  agreed  to  pay  a  minimum 
living  wage.  This  is  no  isolated  case.  Many  a  mod- 
ern business  manager  is  bringing  to  his  spiritual  ad- 
viser the  question  which  the  people  brought  to 
John  the  Baptist  or  which  the  jailer  at  Philippi  in 
his  agony  flung  at  Paul.  With  newly  awakened  sen- 
sibility, they  desire  to  know  what  they  must  do  in 
order  not  simply  to  be  saved  themselves,  but  to  help 
save  this  industrial  order  which  they  feel  to  be  un- 
christian. The  same  cry  is  coming  from  the  troubled 
conscience  of  investors.  Until  a  few  years  ago,  the 
people  in  the  cultured  and  leisure  class  never  inquired 
for  a  moment  concerning  the  sources  of  their  income. 
When  a  committee  in  Chicago  published  in  the  papers 
the  owners  of  houses  of  ill  fame,  there  was  an  aston- 
ished protest  from  many  of  them,  declaring  that  the 
property  had  been  in  the  hands  of  agents  and  that 
they  had  never  known  for  what  purpose  it  had  been 
used.  To-day  that  same  new  conscience  which  makes 
it  no  longer  possible  for  a  Christian  to  own  property 
used  for  the  sale  of  liquor  or  for  prostitution  is  ask- 
ing disturbing  questions  about  the  life  and  health  and 
education  of  the  workers  whose  toil  contributes  to 
dividends. 

A  New  Conscience  at  Work.  Recently  a  young  col- 
lege graduate  who  with  her  father  and  mother  owned 


232        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

stock  in  a  small  factory  in  the  Middle  West  discov- 
ered that  the  working  conditions  of  the  women  did 
not  agree  with  her  Christian  conscience.  She  insisted 
that  her  family  attend  the  stockholders*  meeting  and 
endeavor  to  secure  a  change.  Not  long  ago  a  mem- 
ber of  a  prominent  family  insisted  on  appearing  at  a 
directors'  meeting  of  the  United  States  Steel  Corpora- 
tion in  order  to  demand  that  a  committee  of  investi- 
gation be  appointed  concerning  not  simply  conditions 
of  work  but  concerning  the  relations  between  the 
men  and  the  management.  An  increasing  number  of 
people  are  recognizing  that  if  they  are  to  keep  their 
Christianity,  they  must  extend  it  to  their  business  re- 
lations, and  make  it  cover  the  sources  of  their  income. 
They  are  seeking  to  know  what  they  must  do  in  order 
to  be  Christians.  Says  a  New  York  home  mission 
worker,  "I  am  more  and  more  convinced  as  time  goes 
on  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  creating  the  type  of 
church  life  we  desire  in  New  York,  either  among  the 
very  rich  or  among  the  poor,  or  for  that  matter,  among 
the  middle  class,  so  long  as  unchristian  conditions 
characterize  industry,  housing,  and  amusement.  These 
unchristian  conditions  will  not  be  conquered  simply 
by  a  general  feeling  of  good-will,  but  require  definite 
and  well-thought-out  plans  of  action  by  which  good- 
will may  be  made  to  work." 

Some  Wider  Needs.  As  soon  as  the  Christian  con- 
science begins  to  operate  in  the  industrial  world,  it 
finds  its  power  of  accomplishment  is  limited.  As  soon 
as  individuals  start  to  change  conditions  that  do  not 
harmonize  with  the  standards  of  the  gospel,  they  learn 
that  thev  must  reckon  with  the  whole  practise  of  the 


NEW  FRONTIERS  233 

industrial  world.  Here  and  there  a  few  favored  indi- 
viduals, like  Henry  Ford  or  "Golden  Rule  Jones,"  pos- 
sessing basic  patents  or  superior  methods  of  manage- 
ment, are  able  to  bid  defiance  to  the  laws  of  compe- 
tition, and  to  put  into  practise  new  and  higher  stand- 
ards. But  for  the  most  part  the  man  of  Christian  pur- 
pose is  at  the  mercy  of  the  general  system  and  under 
the  pressure  of  the  people  of  unscrupulous  and  low 
standards.  "We  would  like  to  close  early,"  say  some 
merchants,  "but  our  competitors  refuse."  "How  can 
we  raise  wages?"  say  others.  "There  is  only  a  small 
margin  of  profit  in  our  business,  and  if  we  cut  this, 
our  competitors  will  ruin  us."  The  truth  of  this  asser- 
tion does  but  voice  a  louder  missionary  challenge  to 
organized  Christianity.  It  means  that  the  gospel  is 
to  be  carried  not  simply  into  the  changing  of  local 
conditions  but  into  the  changing  of  the  whole  nature 
and  character  of  the  industrial  process.  It  becomes 
a  question  of  whether  the  whole  world's  work  is  to 
be  done  for  God  or  for  Mammon — whether  it  is  to 
be  organized  to  "seek  first  the  kingdom  of  God  and 
his  righteousness,"  or  to  seek  first  profits,  culture,  and 
leisure  for  the  people  of  superior  strength. 

A  World-wide  Issue.  This  is  a  world-wide  ques- 
tion. It  is  not  alone  for  one  nation  or  for  one  race. 
Everywhere  the  gospel  goes  it  meets  the  check  of  un- 
christian industrial  conditions ;  it  finds  exploitation 
beaten  into  the  lives  of  the  workers  of  India  and  China 
and  Japan.  It  finds  an  unchristian  industrial  order, 
with  its  competition  and  its  ruthless  waste  of  human 
life,  carrying  its  methods  and  results  to  the  peoples 
whom  the  gospel  seeks  to  reach,  sometimes  before  the 


234        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

gospel  gets  there.  Seeking  to  spread  the  teaching  of 
brotherhood  and  peace  throughout  the  world,  the 
churches  find  the  present  industrial  order  developing 
economic  rivalry  between  the  nations  and  sowing  the- 
seeds  of  future  conflicts.  It  becomes  obvious  that  the 
whole  missionary  program  of  the  modern  church — 
home  and  foreign,  national  and  international — de- 
mands absolutely  the  Christianizing  of  the  work  life 
of  the  world.  This  will  have  to  be  worked  out  by 
nations,  by  communities,  and  by  individuals.  Here  a 
little  and  there  a  little  the  methods  will  have  to  be 
discovered  which  will  supplant  the  reign  of  Mammon. 
Like  the  yeast  changing  the  cells  with  which  it  comes 
in  contact,  the  gospel  must  work  up  and  out  until 
it  accomplish  its  wide  task  of  Christianizing  the  social 
order. 

A  Twofold  Task.  The  attempt  to  Christianize  in- 
dustry is  of  necessity  a  twofold  task.  To  attempt  to 
divide  it  is  to  compel  failure.  "Why  not  get  people 
converted?"  says  one  group.  "That  is  all  that  is  neces- 
sary. The  rest  will  take  care  of  itself."  Another 
group  protests,  "Spend  all  your  time  changing  the 
economic  system,  and  the  rest  will  take  care  of  itself. 
The  people  will  automatically  become  good."  Both 
these  groups  have  only  a  half-truth.  Put  them  to- 
gether and  there  is  a  program  that  will  accomplish 
the  desired  result.  The  church  has  always  sought  and 
always  must  seek  to  change  individuals,  and  these  in- 
dividuals have  bettered  conditions  incalculably,  but 
increasingly  their  power  is  checked  as  the  social  or- 
ganization becomes  more  complicated  and  exercises 
more  influence  over  the  individual.  Moreover,  all  too 


NEW  FRONTIERS  235 

many  of  these  changed  persons  never  seek  to  change 
conditions,  never  labor  for  a  Christian  world,  and  so 
themselves  lose  presently  their  vital  religion.  Never 
i  icrely  by  making  converts,  and  not  at  all  merely  by 
seeking  to  change  conditions,  will  Christianity  Chris- 
tianize the  industrial  order.  The  industrial  order  is 
itself  nothing  but  relations  between  persons.  It  can 
only  be  changed  by  persons  who  both  seek  to  change 
it  and  will  change  their  own  lives.  In  so  doing  they 
will  lift  the  pressure  of  unchristian  conditions  from 
off  those  lives  which  are  themselves  too  weak  ever  to 
overcome  it.  Our  missionary  task  is  to  produce  the 
changed  lives  which  will  express  themselves  in 
changed  conditions  and  thereby  help  other  lives  to 
develop.  Not  merely  by  external  changes,  nor  merely 
by  internal  change  of  heart,  will  the  gospel  come  to 
its  expression  in  modern  life.  But  the  internal  change 
of  heart  "must  find  its  expression  in  external  forms 
which  will  create  a  better  environment/' 

The  World  of  Work.  The  success  of  the  attempt 
to  Christianize  the  social  order  depends  upon  our 
ability  to  make  the  work  life  of  the  community  Chris- 
tian. The  whole  cultural  and  administrative  life  of 
a  nation  rests  ultimately  upon  the  backs  of  the  work- 
ers. It  is  maintained  by  productive  labor.-  The  proc- 
ess of  toil  is  the  foundation  of  the  community  house. 
In  the  last  analysis  there  cannot  be  maintained  a 
Christian  family  and  a  Christian  government  unless 
industry  is  also  Christian.  The  nations  have  been 
finding  out  that  their  life  in  war  time  depends  upon 
their  industry,  upon  the  manner  in  which  it  is  mobil- 
ized and  administered.  The  same  truth  holds  good 


236        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

for  the  ordinary  life  of  the  nation  in  time  of  peace. 
The  way  in  which  it  gets  its  bread  and  butter  very 
largely  determines  what  kind  of  homes,  what  kind  of 
government,  even  what  kind  of  religion  its  people 
shall  have.  How  much  of  an  individual  can  Chris- 
tianity control  if  it  does  not  control  his  bread  and 
butter  activities?  How  much  of  his  time  is  spent  in 
church  compared  to  the  amount  that  is  given  to  his 
daily  toil?  What  part  of  his  interest  and  attention 
is  engrossed  by  his  working  activities,  by  the  neces- 
sity of  earning  a  living  for  himself  and  family,  or  of 
making  a  success  in  a  chosen  career?  If  religion  is 
confined  to  exercises  of  worship  and  has  little  place 
or  power  in  this  major  part  of  the  life  and  thought  of 
the  world,  of  what  avail  is  it?  The  world  found  a 
Savior  when  God  was  expressed  at  the  carpenter's 
bench.  If  the  modern  world  is  to  be  saved  from  its 
greed,  its  lust,  its  cruelty,  God  must  again  be  realized 
in  all  its  work  life. 

The  Great  Example.  In  accepting  the  task  of  ap- 
plying the  gospel  to  the  world  of  work,  the  modern 
church  will  be  following  the  ministry  of  Jesus.  Back 
of  his  teaching  lay  the  experience  of  a  life  that  had 
touched  the  working  world  of  its  day  in  vital  contact. 
This  is  why  he  was  able  to  take  most  of  his  parables 
from  the  work  life  of  the  people,  to  talk  about  the 
vineyard  and  the  harvest,  the  sowing  and  the  fishing, 
the  traders,  and  the  women  baking  and  sweeping  in 
the  home.  The  world  of  common  labor  was  the  world 
in  which  he  lived  and  worked.  This  was  why  the 
people  said  that  he  taught  not  "as  the  scribes."  This 
was  why  they  heard  him  gladly.  This  is  the  reason 


NEW  FRONTIERS  237 

that  the  toilers  of  the  earth  to-day  still  feel  that  he 
is  their  leader,  that  he  has  sympathy  with  their  needs. 
He  belongs  with  the  producers  rather  than  with  the 
possessors.  The  qualities  which  he  had  developed  at 
the  bench  he  took  into  the  workshop  of  the  larger 
world.  Working  with  his  Father  at  the  eternal  task, 
he  is  a  toiler  still,  the  "suffering  Servant."  The  great 
social  principles  of  his  teaching  root  back  in  his  ex- 
perience and  fellowship  with  the  workers. 

A  Missionary  Obligation.  Just  as  much  as  the 
church  is  obligated  to  call  men  to  fellowship  with 
Jesus,  so  is  it  obligated  to  extend  his  principles 
through  the  whole  of  life.  The  reason  for  bringing 
men  into  touch  with  him  is  that  he  may  put  them 
in  touch  with  God.  His  purpose  is  that  God  may  be 
expressed  vitally  in  the  relations  of  human  life,  that 
God's  justice  and  righteousness  may  be  realized  in  hu- 
man society.  The  kingdom  of  God  upon  the  earth 
was  his  declared  goal.  This  can  be  accomplished  only 
by  vitalizing  the  whole  community  life  with  the  life 
of  God.  If  Christians  do  not  vigorously  attempt  this, 
they  are  compelled  to  live  in  a  continued  condition  of 
compromise  which  finally  means  the  loss  of  their  as- 
pirations. They  have  to  take  income  which  is  stained 
by  the  blood  of  the  toilers;  they  have  to  go  to  war 
when  they  believe  that  killing  is  wrong.  This  pres- 
sure of  a  hostile  world  upon  their  consciences  was  the 
reason  why  so  many  early  Christians  retired  from  it 
to  seclusion  in  caves  and  later  in  monasteries.  It  is 
the  reason  why  so  many  modern  Christians  seek  to 
be  delivered  from  the  struggle  of  this  world  and  look 
only  for  the  realization  of  the  Kingdom  in  some  far-ofT 


238        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

future.  But  there  is  another  alternative.  An  impor- 
tant officer  of  one  of  the  great  corporations  of  this 
country  said  concerning  the  social  creed  of  the 
churches :  "That  will  not  do.  It  will  require  too  great 
changes  in  modern  industry."  Of  course  the  gospel 
requires  tremendous  transformations  in  modern  in- 
dustry; that  is  precisely  its  challenge  to  the  modern 
Christian.  Not  to  conform  to  the  world  but  to  trans- 
form it  is  his  duty,  and  continually  to  protest  against 
the  things  that  he  cannot  transform  until  the  com- 
munity will  change  them.  There  is  crying  need  for  a 
missionary  propaganda  which  will  proclaim  and  put 
into  collective  life  the  principles  of  Jesus.  The  tragedy 
of  the  modern  world  is  that  the  ethical  standards 
which  its  conscience  has  accepted  for  individuals 
do  not  hold  for  the  group  relations  of  those  same 
individuals,  which  in  their  totality  make  up  organized 
society.  That  explains  the  horrors  of  war  and  the 
tragedies  of  economic  competition.  It  is  an  impos- 
sible world  in  which  men  are  called  upon  either  to 
relinquish  or  to  violate  their  highest  aspirations  and 
ideals.  Such  a  world  must  be  changed.  Into  the 
fields  of  government  and  industry  the  principles  of 
Jesus  must  be  carried.  This  is  the  next  great  adven- 
ture for  God. 

The  Question  of  Contact.  Entering  upon  this  ad- 
venture the  modern  church  finds  that  it  has  no  such 
degree  of  fellowship  with  the  toilers  at  the  bottom 
of  the  community  life  as  did  Jesus.  Sometimes  a 
church  does  not  desire  such  fellowship.  Not  infre- 
quently the  pastor  of  a  family  church  gathers  in  a 
group  of  the  poor  and  needy  only  to  be  told  at  the 


NEW  FRONTIERS  2#) 

next  official  meeting  that  these  people  do  not  contrib- 
ute anything  in  social  standing  or  money  to  the 
church.  Oftentimes  the  church  desires  to  fellowship 
with  these  people,  but  finds  that  it  cannot  owing  to 
economic  conditions.  Not  infrequently  community 
studies  by  a  pastor  reveal  a  group  of  people  who  say 
they  cannot  go  to  church  because  they  have  not  the 
kind  of  clothes  that  would  make  them  feel  comfort- 
able. More  and  more  our  religious  work  follows  the 
lines  of  social  cleavage  which  are  determined  by  the 
work  life  and  incomes  of  people.  The  church  has  a 
larger  proportion  of  its  constituency  among  the  people 
who  manage  and  direct  industry,  the  clerks  in  stores 
and  offices,  the  professional  and  personal  service 
group,  and  the  work  upon  the  soil,  than  among  indus- 
trial workers.  These  are  increasingly  divided  in  their 
church  relationship  according  to  their  social  standing 
and  income.  The  managerial  and  directing  and  pro- 
fessional group  attend  church  in  the  suburb  or  the 
family  residence  neighborhood.  The  workers  with 
their  hands  go  to  the  mission  or  the  settlement  or 
the  small  church  in  altogether  another  kind  of  neigh- 
borhood. There  is  no  such  democratic  religious  con- 
tact as  obtained  in  the  early  American  community 
when  the  workers  of  different  kinds  mingled  together 
in  the  one  common  church. 

Some  Particular  Groups.  There  are  great  groups 
of  toilers  with  whom  the  Protestant  churches  have 
little  fellowship.  The  miners  who  toil  under  ground 
are  largely  segregated  into  their  own  communities. 
They  are  mostly  immigrant.  Very  little  religious  work 
has  been  planned  for  them.  The  men  who  "go  down 


340        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

to  the  sea  in  ships,"  who  carry  the  trade  of  the  world, 
who  gather  the  harvests  of  the  deep,  form  another 
segregated  group.  There  are  missions  for  seamen,  and 
there  are  gospel  ships  upon  the  fishing  banks.  But 
the  seamen,  like  the  miners,  call  for  special  study  and 
interdenominational  administration.  There  is  the  great 
group  of  seasonal  laborers,  the  men  who  toil  in  the 
lumber  and  construction  camps,  in  the  wheat  and  ice 
harvests,  doing  the  basic  work  of  the  world  which  has 
to  be  done  with  bare  hands.  These  men,  like  their 
forebears  in  the  past,  are  subject  to  great  hardship  and 
danger.  For  the  most  part  they  live  unnoticed,  in 
hard  and  even  brutalizing  conditions,  without  the  op- 
portunities of  family  life,  and  then  descend  into  ob- 
livion. Here  and  there  a  "sky-pilot"  penetrates  the 
lumber  camps  with  his  preaching,  and  in  the  construc- 
tion camps  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association 
carries  on  its  religious  and  welfare  work.  But  the 
conditions  of  these  occupations  and  their  effect  upon 
the  workers  continually  challenge  the  Christian  con- 
science, and  the  question  is  not  simply  how  to  preach 
the  gospel  to  these  groups  but  how  to  make  their  occu- 
pations contribute  to  the  Christian  life,  for  them  and 
for  the  rest  of  us. 

Unchristian  Sections  of  Life.  The  Christian  worker 
who  starts  to  carry  the  gospel  to  any  one  of  these 
groups  of  toilers  not  only  meets  conditions  which  con- 
tinually outrage  his  Christian  conscience,  but  he  often- 
times finds  these  conditions  maintained  by  prominent 
Christians.  They  are  living  in  relations  with  the  toil- 
ers that  are  a  continuous  denial  of  the  teachings  of 
Jesus.  Recently  a  preacher  found  a  prominent  church- 


NEW  FRONTIERS  241 

man  in  his  community  operating  a  factory  for  the 
production  of  cheap  shoes  with  the  cheapest  kind  of 
foreign  labor.  He  himself  was  living  in  comfort  and 
drove  his  six-cylinder  car.  But  the  workers  were  paid 
much  less  than  the  standard  wages;  they  were  per- 
force living  in  housing  conditions  which  made  for  the 
degradation  of  their  family  life  and  so  constituted 
them  a  continual  menace  to  the  community,  and  yet 
this  prominent  churchman  had  no  sense  of  the  fact 
that  these  conditions  were  unchristian  or  that  his  re- 
lation to  these  workers  out  of  whose  toil  he  was  get- 
ting the  opportunity  for  comfort  and  luxury  was  a 
violation  of  the  brotherhood  which  Jesus  proclaimed. 
A  chauffeur  who  for  years  drove  one  of  the  great 
pioneers  of  American  industrial  development  to  his 
office  told  a  preacher  of  his  employer's  remarkable 
personal  kindliness,  describing  how  on  cold  winter 
mornings  he  would  be  asked  into  the  house  to  get  a 
warm  cup  of  coffee. 

"But,"  said  he,  "as  soon  as  we  entered  the  business 
districts,  his  character  seemed  to  change.  One  morn- 
ing an  old  beggar  was  crossing  the  road  in  front  of 
me,  and  I  slacked  up. 

"'What's  the  matter?'  said  he.     I  told  him. 

"  'Drive  over  him/  he  said.  'I  cannot  be  late  to  my 
office.' " 

This  man  had  become  Christian  in  large  sections  of 
his  life — in  his  family,  in  philanthropic  relations,  but 
in  business  there  was  a  totally  different  standard. 

What  Remains?  Christianity  has  made  less  prog- 
ress in  the  work  of  life  than  in  the  family  or  in  the  gov- 
ernmental life  of  mankind.  It  is  still  good  business 


242        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

to  buy  labor  at  the  cheapest  possible  rate  or  to  hold 
up  the  food  prices  when  the  country  is  short  of  bread, 
though  war  conditions  have  tended  to  arouse  the  pub- 
lic conscience  on  the  latter  point.  Yet  the  prophets 
thundered  against  these  things  centuries  ago,  and 
Jesus  denounced  the  scribes  and  Pharisees  for  them. 
The  law  of  competition  plays  havoc  with  the  Chris- 
tian law  of  brotherhood.  On  the  stock  exchange  men 
will  ruthlessly  ruin  others  and  then  subscribe  to  a 
charity  fund  for  them.  In  the  last  decade  the  Chris- 
tian conscience  has  expressed  itself  against  many  un- 
just conditions,  but  it  yet  has  to  reach  down  into  the 
fundamental,  underlying  relations  of  the  work  life. 

Some  Consequences.  Because  these  relations  are 
not  Christian,  the  community  continually  suffers 
great  waste  and  misery.  Much  of  our  charitable  and 
missionary  effort  comes  back  to  relieve  the  conse- 
quences of  the  making  of  the  money  which  supports 
it.  A  man  who  turned  a  sick  widow  out  of  his  tene- 
ment because  she  was  behind  with  the  rent  was  quite 
willing  to  respond  to  a  friend's  request  for  a  sub- 
scription for  a  poor  widow  without  knowing  it  was 
for  his  evicted  tenant.  The  energies  of  Christianity 
will  be  required  more  strenuously  to  Christianize  the 
normal  aspects  of  life  than  to  carry  on  remedial 
agencies.  It  is  easier  to  support  the  mission,  the  set- 
tlement, and  to  work  in  organized  charity,  than  to 
remove  the  conditions  which  call  for  them.  Yet  the 
prevention  of  these  causes  is  the  task  to  which  Chris- 
tian energy  now  addresses  itself. 

Achievements  and  Results.  The  gospel  has  not 
been  proclaimed  for  twenty  centuries  without  having 


NEW  FRONTIERS  243 

some  effect  upon  the  work  life  of  the  world.  Indeed 
the  fact  that  it  has  inherent  missionary  power  is 
clearly  evident  from  the  changes  in  the  world  of  work 
that  have  accompanied  its  preaching.  When  the  gos- 
pel was  first  preached,  the  work  of  the  world  was 
largely  done  by  slave  labor.  Under  this  system  a  few 
workers  lived  in  comparative  security,  freedom,  and 
comfort,  but  great  hordes  of  them  were  driven  to 
labor  and  even  to  death  with  bitter  brutality.  This 
condition  of  slavery  wag  the  best  that  the  loftiest 
philosophy  could  offer  to  the  toiler.  But  the  procla- 
mation of  the  gospel  has  abolished  slavery — whether 
it  was  the  bitter  slavery  of  the  Congo  or  the  comfort 
of  the  slave  in  the  enlightened  Southern  home.  If 
it  be  true  that  some  of  the  manual  toilers  are  worse 
off  to-day  than  when  they  were  cved  for  by  humane 
slave-owners,  it  is  yet  true  that  they  are  at  least  free 
to  rebel  and  to  change  their  conditions.  They  have 
the  means  and  the  opportunity  within  their  hands. 
The  labor  legislation  of  our  industrial  period  has  been 
in  part  an  expression  of  the  ideals  of  the  gospel.  De- 
manded by  the  workers  themselves,  it  has  yet  been 
powerfully  promoted  and  furthered  by  those  whose 
compassion  has  been  stirred  by  the  teachings  of 
Jesus  and  whose  sense  of  justice  has  been  quickened 
from  the  same  source.  In  England  the  leaders  of  the 
Evangelical  Party  which  grew  out  of  the  great  evan- 
gelical revival  had  not  a  little  to  do  with  the  drafting 
of  the  first  labor  laws  which  protected  the  women  and 
child  workers  of  England.  In  this  effort  they  went 
directly  counter  to  the  financial  interests  of  the  manu- 
facturing group  who  had  helped  them  put  through  the 


244        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORU) 

humanitarian  program  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  and 
the  improvement  of  the  conditions  of  the  poor  and  the 
prisoner. 

Women  and  Children  First!  The  conditions  of 
labor  for  women  have  everywhere  been  changed  under 
Christianity.  Woman  is  no  longer  a  beast  of  burden 
as  in  the  Orient.  A  few  years  ago  a  manufacturer 
argued  to  the  writer  that  he  might  just  as  .well  work 
the  girls  in  his  factory  ten  hours  as  nine.  His  argu- 
ment was  in  essence  that  he  had  a  right  to  work  them 
to  the  point  of  exhaustion  for  his  own  profit — that  the 
life  of  a  woman  was  nothing  more  nor  less  than  ma- 
terial for  economic  output.  Recently  a  great  leader 
of  business  declared  that  he  had  no  right  to  ask  any 
other  girl  to  work  under  conditions  which  he  would 
not  be  willing  to  have  his  own  daughter  work  under. 
Here  speaks  the  new  conscience,  generated  by  the 
religion  which  teaches  people  to  love  their  neighbors 
as  themselves.  This  is  why  child  labor  is  under  sen- 
tence of  abolition  in  this  country.  It  is  because  Chris- 
tianity has  slowly  developed  the  principle  that  child- 
hood is  not  economic  power,  but  spiritual  potentiality. 
This  changed  concept  of  the  workers'  position  is  due 
not  simply  to  the  independent  spirit  of  the  Western 
peoples,  but  to  the  great  teachings  of  Jesus  concern- 
ing personality.  To  discover  all  the  further  meanings 
of  these  teachings  in  the  modern  working  world  is 
now  the  duty  of  the  churches. 

A  Time  of  Destiny.  Two  crucial  questions  confront 
organized  Christianity.  One  grows  out  of  the  demand 
of  the  workers  at  the  bottom  of  society  that  the  or- 
ganization be  changed.  This  demand  is  also  voiced 


NEW  FRONTIERS  245 

by  the  Christian  conscience.  It  is  therefore  certain 
that  the  industrial  process  will  be  changed.  The 
question  is  how.  By  the  rough,  rude  hands  of  the 
workers  in  rebellion,  or  by  the  constructive  purpose 
of  workers  and  leaders  together  actuated  by  the  spirit 
of  Jesus?  The  other  question  concerns  the  attitude 
of  the  United  States  as  a  growing  economic  and  finan- 
cial power.  Will  it  too  seek  a  place  in  the  sun  and 
perpetuate  and  increase  the  pagan  system  of  conflict 
and  exploitation,  or  will  it  follow  the  teaching  of 
Jesus  and  devote  its  great  energies  in  service  to  the 
common  good  of  mankind?  Can  the  churches  fur- 
nish the  right  answer  to  these  questions? 

Doing  the  Will.  To  find  the  answer  to  these  ques- 
tions, religion  must  be  worked  out  in  the  realm  of 
deed.  We  have  been  naming  the  Name;  we  must  know 
what  it  means  to  do  the  will.  Religion  has  been  ex- 
pressed in  feeling,  it  has  been  expressed  in  intellectual 
formulae  explaining  the  universe.  It  cannot  be  fully 
expressed  in  either  one  or  the  other.  Expressed  only 
in  the  realm  of  feeling,  it  becomes  mere  fanaticism. 
Confined  to  the  realm  of  the  intellect,  it  becomes 
mere  sterile  speculation  or  dogmatism.  It  must  be 
made  real  by  experiment.  It  must  express  itself  in 
practise,  and  then  it  will  become  a  great  educational 
force,  educating  both  those  who  practise  it  and  others 
who  see  it.  What  its  practise  must  be  in  the  working 
world  is  now  to  be  discovered. 

Personal  Influences.  We  need  better  Christians 
and  more  of  them.  The  demand  for  a  social  religion 
does  not  lessen  the  emphasis  upon  personal  Chris- 
tianity, It  requires  individuals  to  consecrate  them- 


246        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

selves  ih  fuller  harmony  to  the  purpose  of  Jesus.  The 
Christianizing  of  the  working  part  of  life  requires 
personal  as  well  as  group  action.  There  is  a  manu- 
facturer in  a  certain  industry,  now  aged  and  full  of 
honor,  who  for  years  was  regarded  as  a  fool  and  a 
sissy  by  his  fellow  manufacturers  because  he  would 
not  pursue  the  ruthless  game  of  competition  with  all 
his  strength.  He  cared  more  about  saving  life,  about 
the  welfare  of  the  workers,  than  about  the  mere  amass- 
ing of  a  fortune.  Now  that  the  whole  industry  has 
come  to  see  both  the  wisdom  and  the  humanity  of  his 
course  and  to  adopt  the  safety-first  movement,  he  has 
come  to  his  place,  but  he  long  paid  the  price  in  mis- 
understanding ajid  contempt.  He  was  willing  to  be 
thought  a  fool  and  to  suffer  for  Christ's  sake.  This 
is  the  great  evangelistic  appeal  of  the  gospel  to-day. 
It  calls  men  and  women  into  high  service,  into  suffer- 
ing, into  sacrifice,  that  they  too  may  discover  the  way 
to  put  God  into  life  because  they  are  willing,  if  need 
be,  to  lose  their  lives.  There  is  a  more  compelling  rea- 
son t(5-day  for  persons  to  be  Christian  than  ever  be- 
fore in  the  world's  history. 

Collective  Deeds.  Not  good  people  alone  does 
Christianity  require,  but  ar  good  community.  The 
working  world  is  made  up  of  a  number  of  relation- 
ships. It  will  not  be  Christian  unless  all  those  rela- 
tionships are  made  Christian.  The  great  gap  that  now 
exists  between  personal  Christianity  and  collective 
action  in  government  and  industry  must  be  closed. 
We  must  be  able  to  live  in  a  world  where  we  are  not 
compelled  to  compromise.  That  world  is  yet  to  be 
made.  It  will  take  all  kinds  of  cooperative  action. 


NEW  FRONTIERS  247 

Just  what  forms  this  will  take  no  man  can  foretell. 
That  is  one  of  the  joys  of  pioneering. 

Fields  of  Aotion.  The  general  types  of  work  which 
the  church  is  called  upon  to  undertake  in  the  exten- 
sion of  Christianity  in  the  industrial  world  have  be- 
come clearly  outlined  in  the  development  of  the  past 
few  years.  Instances  of  all  of  them  have  been  re- 
peatedly given  in  various  chapters  of  this  book.  They 
are:  (l)  Study  and  Investigation:  involving,  in  ad- 
dition to  study  classes,  finding  the  facts  of  local  in- 
dustrial conditions,  and  becoming  acquainted  with  the 
needs  and  points  of  view  of  local  groups  of  workers. 
(2)  Propaganda:  including  both  the  proclamation  of 
the  Christian  ideal  and  its  specific  application  to  in- 
dustrial needs,  through  the  pulpit,  public  gatherings, 
and  in  printed  form,  and  the  circulation  of  this  ma- 
terial among  non-churchgoers.  (3)  Personal  Example 
and  Experiment:  The  churches  may  properly  require 
of  their  members  to  put  into  practise  these  industrial 
standards  upon  which  they  have  agreed  as  expressing 
the  Christian  ideal.  They  should  develop  by  their 
teaching  the  prophets  and  pioneers  of  industrial  trans- 
formation. (4)  Cooperation  with  Other  Agencies: 
covering  all  organizations,  whether  of  workers  or  em- 
ployers or  both,  producers  or  consumers  or  both,  that 
are  working  for  the  standards  adopted  by  the  churches 
and  in  so  far  as  their  methods  are  in  harmony  with 
the  Christiarf  spirit.  (5)  Support  of  Legislation,  Just 
as  the  churches  have  united  to  support  measures  to 
relieve  society  from  the  evils  of  the  liquor  traffic,  so 
can  they  unite  to  free  the  community  from  the  burden 
of  destructive  industrial  conditions  and  relations. 


248        THE  GOSPEL  FOR  A  WORKING  WORLD 

For  Instance!  In  dealing  with  any  industrial  situ- 
ation, local  or  general,  all  of  the  above-described 
methods  will  at  one  time  or  another  need  to  be  used. 
For  example.,  in  its  efforts  to  relieve  many  workers 
and  communities  from  the  effects  of  the  seven-day 
week,  the  churches  have  found  it  necessary  to  investi- 
gate the  nature,  conditions,  and  requirements  of  those 
industries  and  forms  of  business  which  must  operate 
continuously,  and  fo  educate  church-members,  legis- 
lators, employers,  and  wage-earners  concerning  their 
effects.  Preachers  have  persuaded  employers  and 
managers  to  modify  and  eliminate  seven-day  work. 
The  movement  has  involved  close  cooperation  with  the 
American  Association  for  Labor  Legislation  and  with 
the  legislative  forces  of  organized  labor.  It  has  re- 
quired the  introduction  into  state  legislatures  of  one- 
day-i'est-m-seven  bills,  and  active  campaigning  in  their 
behalf.  The  same  general  methods  are  required  in  or- 
der to  effect  the  more  far-reaching  industrial  changes 
required  by  the  gospel. 

Changing  Relationships.  In  the  cooperative  effort 
of  all  the  forces  of  modern  society  to  make  industry 
harmonize  with  the  highest  ideals  of  mankind,  the 
church  has  a  peculiar  province.  It  is  concerned  with 
the  eternal  destiny  of  man,  with  his  relationship  with 
God,  here  and  hereafter.  Therefore  in  the  industrial 
world  its  primary  concern  is  with  those  underlying 
relattonships  between  men  and  groups  of  men  that 
constitute  industry,  because  these  are  inseparable 
from  men's  relationship  with  God.  When  these  rela- 
tionships between  men  which  constitute  society  are 
changed  in  the  direction  of  the  teaching  of  Jesus,  men 


NEW  FRONTIERS  249 

are  brought  into  a  different  relationship  to  God.  The 
two  things  belong  together.  Jesus  said  people  could 
not  find  God  in  the  temple  unless  they  had  first  es- 
tablished right  relations  with  their  fellow  men.  If 
those  were  lacking-  they  must  leave  their  gift  at  the 
altar  and  go  out  and  find  them.  He  said  men  must 
call  God  "our  Father."  They  must  find  him  together. 
They  could  not  find  him  alone.  That  was  'his  experi- 
ence. So  he  worked  it  put  at  the  carpenter's  bench 
and  in  all  social  relations  with  men.  Those  who  find 
out  what  brotherhood  means  will  know  who  God  is, 
and  those  who  know  who  God  is  will  be  able  to  find 
out  what  brotherhood  means.  If  the  search  for  both 
is  honest,  they  will  be  discovered  together.  Gradually 
they  will  work  themselves  out  in  the  experience  of  the 
individual,  the  community,  and  the  race. 

Tackling  the  Job.  The  church  is  willing  to-day  to 
undertake  the  new  enterprise.  The  new  home  missions 
believes  that  all  of  life  is  within  its  field.  It  will  attempt 
the  whole  task  of  Christianizing  the  world  without  stop- 
ping to  count  the  cost.  It  is  enlisting  all  the  forces  of  the 
church  for  propaganda,  for  experiment,  for  discussion, 
for  action  in  all  the  contacts  and  experiences  of  life.  It 
is  a  general  mobilization.  What  is  your  bit?  That  is 
the  personal  question.  How  will  you  express  Chris- 
tianity in  your  own  life,  in  your  own  community? 


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Patten,  Simon  N.  The  New  Basis  of  Civilization.  1907.  Mac- 
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Ward,  Harry  F.  Poverty  and  Wealth.  1915.  Methodist  Book 
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Brooks,  John  G.    American  Syndicalism:  The  I.  W.  W.    1913. 

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INDEX 


Accidents,   4-12 

Acquisitive  instinct,  the,  211;  di- 
rection and  goal  of  the,  212 

Advance,  lines  of,  xii 

"Alliance  with  predatory  wealth" 
charged  against  the  church,  135 

Ambition's   many   forms,    203 

American  Association  for  Labor 
Legislation,  51 

American  Chemical  Society  and  oc- 
cupational disease,  20 

American  Federation  of  Labor,  117, 
121,  181,  185;  promotes  coopera- 
tive trade,  190 

Americans  extreme  in  liberty,  115 

America's  wartime  commission  for 
labor  agreement,  185 

Amos  and  his  social  message,  92 

Anarchism  both  of  capital  and  labor, 
116 

Anthrax,    15 

Anti-foreign  factor  in  labor  clashes; 
105 

Arbitration  refused  by  employers, 
117 

Arsenic  poisoning,    15 

Atkinson,  Rev.  Henry  A.,  referred 
to,  158 

Autocrats  in  industry,  power  being 
crushed,  169,  170 


B 


Baptist    (Northern)    Convention,   on 

industrial  democracy,   176 
"Bends,  the,"  or  caisson  disease,  14 
Bible   classes    preventing   unemploy- 
ment, 29,  76 
Risbee,  Arizona,  strikers  dumped  in 

desert,  113 

Blessings  of  poverty,  207 
"Boston,  unemployment,  28,  29 
British   Ministry  of  Munitions,   help 

of   organized  labor,    181 
Brotherhood,    a    fact    not    an    ideal, 
177,   21 7 J  call  of,  63,   64;   growth 
of,     178;     Jesus'     standard,     167; 
passion    for    among    work    people, 

TtniMing  accidents,  6 
Bulgarian  proverb,  5 
Bureau  of  Mines,  9 


254 


Call  to  high  service,  246 

Capital-  or  property  income,  93; 
needs  help  of  the  church,  161 

Caste,  previously  167,  and  in  Amer- 
ica to-day,  1 66;  system,  194;  to 
be  abolished  everywhere,  191 

Changes  impending,  244;  in  races 
employed  in  coal-field,  182,  183 

Child  labor,  55;  increased  by  pov- 
erty, 80 

Children,  in  street  trades,  229; 
shortened  lives,  30,  31;  small  and 
weak  of  exhausted  workers,  43, 
44 

China  and  Japan  show  new  spirit 
in  workers,  175 

Christ.     See  Jesits  Christ 

Christian  conscience,  the,  244;  chal- 
lenge to,  240;  ideals  in  industrial 
relations,  220 

Christian,  the  best,  may  be  the  best 
labor  union  man,  135;  in  spots, 
241 

Christianity,  creates  new  needs,  93: 
faces  upheaval  it  has  inspired. 
175;  missionary  spirit,  21;  new 
industrial  standards,  94,  95;  revo- 
lutionary rather  than  repressive, 
148 

Christianizing,  a  community  matter, 
223;  industry,  31;  a  personal  ob- 
ligation, 223 

Christians  desiring  to  know  God's 
counsel  and  their  duty  to  brother 
man,  160 

Church,  and  labor,  the,  127,  128, 
131*  135;  assailed  by  syndicalists. 
148;  for  justice,  xii;  ideal  of 
brotherhood  and  solidarity,  153; 
missionary  duty  and  purpose,  146, 
219;  peculiar  province,  348;  se- 
curing jug^ice  and  brotherhood, 
94-96;  should  use  printed  matter 
to  show  wage-earners  its  social 
aims  and  to  convejr  the  gospel, 
146;  "We  worked  for  thi  chnrch," 
xiii 

Church  life  and  unchristian  condi- 
tions, 232 

Churches,  and  women  workers,  56; 
interest  in  some  labor  conflicts, 
127;  to  teach  the  value  of  human 
life,  n 


INDEX 


255 


Cigarmakers  and  unemployment,  29 
Cleveland,  tuberculosis  death-rate,  22 
Coal-field,   nationalities   in,    182,    183 
Coal -miners    trade    agreement,     i8"i, 

182;  wagres,  78,  82,  83 
Coldness  to  labor  interests  charged 

against  the  church,   135 
Collective  action  and  personal  Chris- 
tianity. 246 

Committee  on   National   Vitality,   39 
"Commonwealth   of   God,"   ix 
Community  work,    246 
Compensation  and  liability  laws,   12 
Competition,  demands,  230;  law  and 

brotherhood,  242;  refusals,  232 
Competitive  struggle  for  the  world  s 

wealth,    197 
Complaint   committee   and    right    of 

petition,    179 
Conscience,    a     new,     231;     limited 

power  of,   232 
Consumers'   League,   77 
Contact,  the  question  of,  238,  239 
Continuous  industries,  49,   5q 
Conversion,    economic    and    individ- 
ual,  2\J4 
Cooperation    of   church    and    labor, 

Cooperative  commonwealth,  its  goal, 

205 

Cooperative  ownership,  220 
Culp,  Rev.  E.  J.,  quoted,   158 


Danger  of  riches,  206 

Dangerous  trades,   14,    15,  42 

Death-rate,  in  our  cities,  22;  of  in- 
fants in  mill  towns,  44;  the  high- 
est recorded,  6 

Deaths  and  injuries  in  American  in- 
dustry, 4 

Deeds,  rather  than  words,  count 
with  labor,  96,  141 

Degenerative   diseases,    39,    41 

Democracy,  and  the  labor  cause, 
in,  114;  grows  with  Christianity, 
169;  world- wide  Christian  task, 
191,  192 

Denmark  shows  value  of  farmer 
copartnership,  189 

Despotism  breeds  despotism,   174 

Detroit,  and   profit-sharing,   75 

Diet,    inadequate,    21 

Discoverer,    the   Christian   a,    223 

Disease,  89 

Diseased  street  workers,  229 

Distribution,    90-92 

Dividends,   excessive,  91 

Divine  right  claimed  for  those  hav- 
ing power,  167,  171 


Doctor,  a,  counted  a  scab,  no 
Dust  as  a  danger,  20,  21 


Economics  of  Jesus,  89 

Editor,  ill-informed,  makes  incor- 
rect allusions,  139 

Education,  defective,  and  ineffi- 
ciency, 28,  29 

Efficiency  standard  of  living,  70,  71, 
81,  87,  89,  92 

Efficiency  system  in  industry  from 
workers'  view-point,  57 

Eight-hour  day  growing  in  favor,  61 

Employer  and  employee  partnership 
increased  by  labor  unionism,  187 

Employment  bureaus,  or  exchanges, 
28,  30 

England.     See  Great  Britain 

Environment,  community,   21 

Europe,    cooperative    societies,    189 

European  War,  xii,  99,  101,  102, 
184,  185,  195 

Exploitation  in  India  and  China, 
233 

Explosions  in  mills  and  elevators,  6 


Factory  Inspectors  of  America,  63 

Factory  revolts,  103 

Family     well-being     a     motive     for 

work,   199 

Fatigue,  a  determinant  of  charac- 
ter, 47;  and  disease  and  acci- 
dents, 42,  43;  injurious  to  mor- 
als, 45-47;  long  day,  55;  passing 
the  elasticity  point,  63;  protection 
from  effects,  60;  "speeding  up," 
55,  56;  toxin  of,  38,  39 

Federal  Commission  on  Industrial 
Relations,  73,  90,  143,  173,  180, 
183,  184 

Federal  Council  of  the  churches  of 
Christ  in  America,  51,  61,  145, 
158;  on  industrial  democracy, 
175;  on  equitable  distribution, 
219;  on  right  to  organize,  180 

Fellow  workers  the  true  idea  of 
employers  and  employees,  165 

Fellowship,  difficulties,  238-240;  il- 
lustrations, 241,  246 

Fields    of    action    summarized,    247 

Fisheries   commission,   6 

Fitch,  John,  quoted,  46 

Ford,  Henry,  referred  to,  233 

France,   legislation   for  rest  day.   51 

Fraternal  delegates  between  church 
and  labor,  155,  156 

Free-speech   fights,    103 

Frontier,   new,  x 


256 


INDEX 


Gary,  Judge,  referred  to,   30 

George,   Henry,    quoted,   41 

German  iron  and  steel  works,  91 

Gibson,  quoted,  4,  5 

Girl  workers,  xiv 

God,  absolute  owner,  213;  makes 
property  sacred,  218;  to  be  ex- 
pressed in  working  world,  191 

"God,  Commonwealth  of,"  ix 

Golden  Rule  Jones,  referred  to,  333 

Good  kings  or  slave-owners  do  no* 
make  policies  bearable,  173 

Gospel,  task,  234;  to  be  put  at  the 
center  of  life,  ix 

Great  Britain,  43,  44;  cooperative 
societies,  190;  eight-hour  day 
profitable,  61,  62;  Evangelical 
Party  influence,  243;  labor  laws, 
243;  Labor  Party,  221 ;  transporta- 
tion strike,  128;  war-time  joint 
boards  for  labor  agreement,  184 

Guards  or  deputies,  assumed  author- 
ity and  brutal  acts  of,  112,  izz- 
124 

Gunmen  or  guards.  See  Guards 
or  deputies 


"Have's"  and  "have-not's,"  196 
Hebrew,   ideals   of  brotherhood   and 
maintenance,   86,   87,    169;   justice 
to   the   producer,    92;    life   protec- 
tion,   30;    rest    day,    49;    view    of 
man  and  property,  210,  211 
Hobo    Newt,    quoted,     151 
Hobson,  John  A.,  quoted,  47 
Home      and     home     life     imperiled 

among   overworked,    45 
Home  missions,  an  attempt  to  Chris- 
tianize    the     United     States,     ix; 
makes  a  new  conscience,  23;   new 
frontier  in  industrial  field,  58,  59; 
propaganda  to    Christianize   indus- 
try,    227;     returning    immigrants, 
52;    seeks    unevangelized    groups, 
ix,  x 
Hostile    world,    pressure     of,     237; 

transformation   of,   238 
Housing,    x,    21 
Human    nature    changes,    219 
Human    spirit,     a    new    awakening, 
175 


Ideas  and  ideals,  battle  of,   197 
Ignorance,    89,    116 


Immigrants,  American  prejudice 
against,  105,  107-109;  better  wages 
needed  for,  82,  83;  how  wages 
secured,  95;  not  aware  of  the  law, 
116;  overworked,  48,  49;  races 
employed  in  coal-field,  182,  183; 
religious  effort  and  the  strike,  114, 
115;  second  generation  standards, 
94.  95;  unions  teach  self-control, 
186,  187 

Immortal  souls  not  property,  211 

Income,  distribution  in  United 
States,  91;  of  agricultural  work- 
ers, 74;  possible  average  family, 
89;  wage-earners,  66,  71-78,  81, 
82,  231 

Indians,    x 

Industrial,  conflict,  99.  195;  democ- 
racy, 173,  178;  order,  235;  poi- 
sons, 15,  16;  problems,  xi;  rul- 
ers— autocratic,  democratic — 171, 
172 

Industrial  Workers  of  the  World, 
122,  140,  159,  160,  190;  ideal  of 
solidarity,  152;  ownership  a  stim- 
ulus, 190;  their  opportunity,  127; 
view  of  Jesus,  147,  148,  150 

Industry,  the  Christianizing  of,  xi, 
xii 

Infant  mortality  and  the  low  wage, 
80,  8 1 

Insolent    attitudes    «f    owners    and 

workers,     1 18 

Instinct   of   sex,    21 »,   215 
Intemperance,     29;     resulting    from 

fatigue,  46,  47 
Ireland    and    farmer    copartnership, 

189 
Italy,  44 


Jesus  Christ,  xi;  aims  at  brother- 
hood, 169,  and  human  reconstruc- 
tion, 148,  149;  arraigns  for  greed, 
93;  desires  man's  abundant  life, 
60;  economics  of,  89;  fellowship 
of  his  sufferings,  96;  flag  of,  ix; 
magnifies  life,  10,  n:  new  spirit 
of  service,  64;  our  great  Examnle, 
140,  236;  standard  of,  xv;  taking 
sides,  157;  value  of  human  life, 
172 

Julius  Ca?sar  recruits  his  fortunes, 
206 

Juvenile  Protective  Association  of 
Chicago,  46 


INDEX 


257 


King,  W.  I.,  referred  to,  73,  74, 
89,  90 

Kipling,  quoted,  6,  115;  referred 
to,  10 

Knowledge  and  sympathy  go  to- 
gether, 140 


Labor,  and  the  church,  133,  135, 
145,  161;  as  a  commodity,  172, 
210;  copartnership,  189;  laws  in 
Great  Britain,  243;  leaders,  119, 
iai,  127,  131,  148,  150,  151;  party 
in  Great  Britain,  221;  productive 
service,  235;  unions,  186,  187, 
189;  voice  of,  128,  131;  wars,  99, 
in;  world,  approach  to.  140. 

Labor  Temple  in  New  York  City, 
133,  156 

Labor  unionism,  102,  119,  180,  185- 
187 

"Laborer,"   20 

Lacka wanna  Steel  Company,  50,  51 

Landowner,  prosperous,  assists  oth- 
ers, 189 

Laundrywomen,   wages.    78 

Law,  ignorance  of,   116 

Lawlessness    of    Americans,    115 

Lead  poisoning,   16-20,  31 

Leisure,   60,   61 

Lincoln,  quoted,  173;  referred  to, 
100 

London  Society  of  Friends,  on  a 
Christian  social  order,  176 

Long  work-day's  ill  effects,  52 

Longshoremen's   strike,    121 

Los  Angeles  dynamite  conspiracy, 
in 

Luxury,  and  poverty,  203,  206,  213; 
produces  human  waste,  96 


M 


Mammon    worship,    198,     203,     206, 

*3* 
Manana,     41 

Manufactures,  accidents,  4;  safety 
efforts,  9 

Men  and  Religion  Forward  Move- 
ment, on  industrial  democracy, 
176 

Men's  clubs  preventing  unemploy- 
ment, 29 


Mercurial    poisoning,    i.< 
Methodist    Episcopal    Church,    Gen- 
eral Conference,  on  industrial  de- 
mocracy,   176;    Colorado    Confer- 
ence report  on  strike,   158 

Middle  class,  in  the  United  States, 
90;  and  farming  class  In  adjust- 
ment to  sacred  gospel,  161 

Milan,  Italy,  clinic  for  occupational 
_  diseases,  19 

Mines,  safety  efforts,  9,   10 

Minimum,  standard  of  living,  71. 
81,  87;  wage  laws,  94 

Mining,  accidents,  4,  5,  10;  con- 
flicts, 101,  103,  106,  109;  dis- 
agreement, 119 

Minister,  a  champion  of  rights  in 
a  parade,  122;  brings  conciliation, 
114,  115;  displays  lack  of  knowl- 
edge of  I.  W.  W.,  139;  helps  se- 
cure better  wages,  96;  stays  as  a 
miner,  109,  127 

Ministers,  xiii,  48,  50;  helping  in 
cooperative  movements,  189;  in 
labor  problems,  142,  143;  leaders 
of  labor  address  a  union  meet- 
ing of,  134;  some  oblivious  to  la- 
bor struggles,  134,  135 

Ministers'  attacks  on  labor  long 
remembered,  1 36 

"Misery   diseases,"    21,    22 

Mission,  action  should  reach  cause* 
of  labor  conflicts,  114,  115; 
churches  and  work,  ix 

Missionary,  effort  for  working  class 
can  start  with  ideal  of  Jesus,  149, 
150;  obligation  and  tasks,  162, 
212,  237,  238 

Mobilization,  for  peace,  30;  in  la- 
bor war,  101 

Monasteries,   reasons   for,   237 

Monotony  and  fatigue,  54,  55 

Mooney,    Tom,   99 

Moral,  progress  from  better  labor 
conditions,  62,  63;  standards  sus- 
pended in  labor  wars,  no 

Morals  and  religion,  needed  for  jus- 
tice, 89;  suffer  from  too  low 
wages,  83,  85 

Motherhood  and   overwork,   43-45 

Motives    for    work,    199,    202 

Munition  workers  and  Sunday  rest, 
43 


N 


National    Association    of    Manufac- 
turers,      121 ;        opposing        labor 

unions,    181 


258 


INDEX 


National  Women's  Trade  Union 
League,  58,  156 

Natural  resources,  conflict  for  their 
control,  195 

N  earing,  Scott,  quoted,  79;  re- 
ferred to,  87,  92 

Needs,  national  and  personal,  245- 
248 

New  conscience  at  work,  231;  lim- 
ited power  of,  232 

New  York  Charity  Organization 
Society,  79,  80 

New  York  City,  121;  clinic  for  oc- 
cupational diseases,  19;  death-rate, 
23,  23;  new  police  policy,  124; 
waitresses'  wages,  75 

Northern  Baptist  Convention  on  in- 
dividual democracy,  176 


Productive  labor  and  a  nation's  life, 
235 

Profit-sharing,  extent  in  America, 
95 

Property,  and  life,  struggle  between, 
210;  equitable  distribution  of, 
219;  is  mighty,  198;  ownership 
of,  197;  people  as,  210;  relation- 
ship of  to  war,  197 

Prophets,  the,  xi,  6,  31,  157,  169; 
message  of,  92 

Prosperity,   place  of,   209 

Psychology  of  fear  charged  against 
Christianity,  148 

Putting  God  into  life,  246 


Occupational    diseases,    13-21;    clinic 

for,   in   Milan.    Italy,   i<> 
Organized  iniquities,   198 
Overtime   work,  xiii,  xiv 


Pagan  idea  accepts  lower  classes  and 
slaves,  1 66,  167 

Painter's   colic,    14 

Patten,  Simon  N.,  referred  to,  87 

Pay  envelop,  68 

Pennsylvania,    mine    safety,    g 

People  as  property,   210 

Personal   question,   the,   249 

Personality,  development  of,  xi, 
xii;  made  precious,  24 

Phossy-jaw,    1 5 

Police,  and  law  enforcers,  disre- 
garding law,  122,  123;  lawful 
action  inspires  a  like  spirit,  122- 
124 

Poor,  the,  in  the  United  States,  90 

Possessions  and  possessors,  xi.   TOO 

Poverty,  and  luxury,  203,  206,  213: 
"Poverty  line,"  78,  79;  removal 
of,  96;  might  be  cured  by  justice, 
89 

Practical   Man,   Mr.,  86-89 

Presbyterian  Church  in  the  U.  S. 
A.,  176 

Preventive  measures,  9,   10 

Printed  helps  by  the  church  for 
wage-earners,  146 

Producers,  xi,  100;  and  possessors, 
196 

Production  as  a  motive  for  work, 
202 


Races    and    nationalities    change    in 

the  coal-field,   182,   183 
Railroads,  passenger  and  worker  ac- 
cidents,  5 

Reconstruction  or  reform,  204 
"Red-light  district"  for  strike-break- 
ers,   in 

Reduction   of  hours  and  results.  62 
Relationships,  right  and  wrong,   195, 

196,   248 

Religion,  against  the  autocrat.  169; 
Hebrew  standards  makes  room  to 
develop  58-60;  tends  to  bring 
justice,  89;  to  be  infused  into 
work,  190 

Religious,  effort  may  prevent 
trouble,  114,  115;  hunger  in  la- 
bor world,  148,  149;  publishing 
houses  criticized  as  ignoring  rights 
of  labor,  136 

Remington  Typewriter   Company,  9 
Rescue  work  in  mines,  9 
Rest  day   for   workers  church's  first 

goal,    58 

Revolt   caused    by   denial    of   demo- 
cratic control,    173 
Rewards  as  a  stimulus,  221 
Rich,  the,  in  the  United   States,  90 
Right,  of  petition,    179;  to  organize, 

180;   to  work,  25 
Rivalry  instead  of  peace,   234 
Robbins,    Raymond,    referred    to,   48 
Roman    profligacy     in     Jesus'     time, 
206 


Sacrificial  service,  96 
"Safety  museum."  20 
Salaries  of  some  officials,  91 


INDEX 


259 


Salesgirls'  wages,  78 

San   Francisco   employment   bureau, 

28 
Savages     changed    into     Christians, 

219 

Seamen's  fatalities,  6 
Service  the  motive  in  work,  222 
Settlements,  x 

Seven-day  week  induces  fatigue,  49 
Sex,    and    work    relationships,    215; 

evils   increased   by    overwork,   46, 

Shingle-mill  cooperative  effort,   190 
Short  hour  legislation,  42,  59,  60 
Simple  living,  doctrine  of,  208,  214 
Six-day  week.  59,  60 
Slavery,    abolished   by   gospel    proc- 
lamation, 243 

Social   creed  of  the  churches  to  be 
taken  honestly,  138,  141,  142,  157 
Social,  justice,  96;  living,  new  ideal 
of,  205;   principles  of  Jesus,  237; 
religion    needed,    162;    results    of 
organized   labor,    185,    186 
Socialism,  inclusive  spirit,   152 
Socialists^    140,    147;   Christian,   146, 

147;  views  of  Jesus,   149 
Solidarity,    an    ideal    of   the   church 
and  of  Iabor,"i54;  views  of  the  I. 
W.  W.,   152 
Song  and  work,  35-38 
Spahr,   Charles  B.,  referred  to,  90 
Speech,    aggressive    use    of   by    the 

church,   140;  anti -religious,  145 
"Speeding  up,"  55,   56 
Spiritual   needs   of  labor  and   capi- 
tal, 127 

Springfield,  Ohio,  survey,  light  as 
to  the  long  day,  54;  wage  fig- 
ures, 78 

Standard   of  living,   69,   70 
State  Industrial  Commission  of  New 

York,  145 

Steel  works,  safety  efforts,  7 
Steiner,   Edward   A.,   quoted,  47 
Sterile,    Rev.    Charles,    quoted,    47; 

referred  to,  51,   133,   155 
Stewardship,  principle  of,  213 
Stores,  excessive  hours,   55 
Strikers  and  strikes,  177,  182 
Struggle  between  property  and  life, 

210 

Suffrage,  growth  of,   170 
Sunday  rest,   134,   i43t   144 
Surplus,  better  distribution  of,  89 
Survey,  referred  to,  xi 
Swartz,  Rev.  H.  F.,  referred  to,  133 
Switzerland,  44 

Syndicalism,  147.  See  also  Indus- 
trial Workers  of  the  World 


Temperance  gains  from  shorter 
hours,  62 

Temptations  of  the  streets,  229 

Tenements,  22;  income  from,  217 

Trade   agreements,    181 

Trade  union,  a  start  in  representa- 
tive government  in  the  workshop, 
1 80 

Trade  unionism.  See  Labor  Union- 
ism. 

Tuberculosis,  an  industrial  and  so- 
cial disease,  21,  22 

Twofold    task,    234 

Types  of  work,  247 


Unchristian     industrial     conditions, 

xiv 

Unemployable   group,    26,   27 
Unemployment,  evils  of,  26-28 
"•Unfair"          standards          charged 

against  the  church,  136 
United  States,  44;  a  world  power, 
245;  Bureau  of  Labor,  26,  117; 
Commission  on  Industrial  Rela- 
tions, 26;  Department  of  Agri- 
culture, 74;  private  armies  with 
government  functions,  124,  125; 
Public  Health  Service,  13,  21,  *8, 
81;  Steel  Corporation,  48,  2325  to 
be  Christianired,  ix;  unskilled  im- 
migrants and  the  .living  wage. 
231;  workers  in  continuous  indus- 
tries, 49 


Victims  of  industrial  conflict,  some, 

227 
View    of   a   home   mission    worker, 

Violence,  how  to  forestall,  127;  in- 
cited by  brutal  law  officers,  105, 
1 06,  122,  123;  rarely  a  direct  aim, 
in 

Vogt,  Paul  L.,  referred  to,  74 


W 


Wage-earners,  9,   it,  91;  causes  of 
low  health,   21;   income  of,  71-78, 


260 


INDEX 


8 1,  82;  life  to  be  made  safe, 
32;  loss  of  time,  26;  wage  needs 
and  improvements,  82,  83,  95 

Wage  slavery  has  a  real  meaning, 
171 

Waitresses  in  New  York  City, 
wages,  77 

War  and  the  economic  struggle, 
197*  progress  in  trade  agree- 
ment, 184 

War,  195,  197.  See  also  European 
War  . 

War  of  capital  and  labor.  See 
Labor  wars 

Washington  Square  Methodist  Epis- 
copal  Church  in  New  York,  hos- 
jitality   to    labor,    156 
health,   concentration  of,   203;   dis- 
tribution in  United  States,  90 

Welfare  work,   91 

When  property  is  sacred,  2x8 


Pi 
Wej 


Women,     and    children    first,    244; 

workers  and  fatigue,  48 
Wood  alcohol  poisoning,  15 
Work,    and    sex    relationships,    215; 
a  missionary  enterprise,  215;  lack 
of  is  spiritual   waste,   25;    motives 
for,   199,  201;  to  help  life,  40 
Work-day,   a  shorter,    34 
Workers'   World,   quoted,   134 
Workingmen,  direct  and  outspoken, 
140;    points    against    the    church, 
J35»   J36»  view  of  the  church  and 
religion,  127,  128;  with  interest  in 
unions  church    means   less,    133 
Workmen's  compensation  law,  210 
Wright,     Carroll     D.,     referred    to, 
117,   186 


Youngstown,   Ohio,   wages,   75,    76 


LIST  OF 

MISSION  BOARDS  AND 
CORRESPONDENTS 


The  Missionary  Education  Movement  is  conducted  in  behalf  of  the 
Foreign  and  Home  Mission  Boards  and  Societies  of  the 'United  States  and 
Canada. 

Orders  for  literature  on  foreign  and  home  missions  should  be  ad- 
dressed to  the  secretaries  representing  those  organizations,  wh«  are  pre- 
pared to  furnish  special  helps  to  leaders  of  mission  study  classes  and  to 
other  missionary  workers. 

If  the  address  of  the  secretary  of  the  Foreign  or  Home  Mission  Board 
or  Society  of  your  denomination  is  unknown,  orders  may  be  sent  to  the 
Missionary  Education  Movement.  All  persons  ordering  from  the  Mission- 
ary Education  Movement  are  requested  to  indicate  their  denominations 
when  ordering. 
ADVENT  CHRISTIAN — American  Advent  Mission  Society,  Rev.  George  E. 

Tyler,  160  Warren  Street,  Boston,  Mass. 
ASSOCIATE  REFORMED  PRESBYTERIAN — Young  People's  Christian  Union  and 

Sabbath  School  Work,  Rev.  J.  W.  Carson,  Newberry,  S.  C. 
BAPTIST  (NORTH) — Department  of  Missionary  Education  of  the  Cooperating 
Organizations  of  the  Northern  Baptist  Convention,  23  East  26th  Street, 
New  York  City. 

BAPTIST  (SOUTH) — Foreign  Mission  Board  of  the  Southern  Baptist  Conven- 
tion, Rev.  T.  B.  Ray,  1103  Main  Street,  Richmond,  Va.  (Correspon- 
dence concerning  both  foreign  and  home  missions.) 

BAPTIST  (COLORED) — Foreign  Mission  Board  of  the  National  Baptist  Con- 
vention, Rev.  L.  G.  Jordan,  701  South  Nineteenth  Street,  Philadelphia, 

CHRISTIAN — The  Mission  Board  of  the  Christian  Chtirch:  Foreign  Missions, 
Rev.  M.  T.  Morrill;  Home  Missions,  Rev.  Omer  S.  Thomas,  C.  P.  A. 
Building,    Dayton,   Ohie. 
CHRISTIAN  REFORMED — Board  of  Heathen  Missions,  Rev.  Henry  Beets,  2050 

Francis  Avenue,   S.   E.,  Grand  Rapids,   Mich. 
CHURCH  OF  THE  BRETHREN — General  Mission   Board  of  the  Church  of  the 

Brethren,  Rev.  Galen  B.  Royer,  Elgin,  III. 
CONGREGATIONAL — American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions. 

Rev.  D.  Brewer  Eddy,  14  Beacon  Street,  Boston,  Mass. 
American-  Missionary  Association,  Rev.  C.  J.  Ryder,  287  Fourth  Avenue, 

New  York  City. 
Congregational  Education  Society,  Rev.  Miles  B.  Fisher,   14  Beacon  St., 

Boston,  Mass. 
The  Congregational  Home  Missionary  Society,   Rev.  William   S.   Beard, 

287   Fourth   Avenue,  New  York  City. 
DISCIPLES  OF  CHRIST — Foreign  Christian  Missionary  Society,  Rev.  Stephen 

T.   Corey,   Box  884,   Cincinnati,  Ohio. 

The  American  Christian  Missionary  Society,  Mr.  R.  M.  Hopkins,  Cartw 
Building,    Cincinnati,    Ohio. 


EVANGELICAL  ASSOCIATION — Missionary  Society  of  the  Evangelical  Asso- 
ciation, Rev.  George  Johnson,  1903  Woodland  Avenue,  S.  E.,  Cleve- 
land, Ohio. 

EVANGELICAL  LUTHERAN — Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  General  Coun- 
cil of  the  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  in  N.  A.,  Rev.  George  Dracb, 
Trappe,  Pa. 

Board  of  Home  Missions  of  the  General  Council  of  the  Evangelical 
Lutheran  Church  in  North  America,  80^807  Drexel  Building,  Phila- 
delphia, Pa. 

Board   of   Foreign   Missions  of   the   General    Synod   of   the   Evangelical 
Lutheran  Church  in  the   U.   S.  A.,  Rev.  L.   B.   Wolff,   21   West   Sara- 
toga  Street,   Baltimore,   Md. 
Board    of    Home    Missions    and    Church    Extension    of    the    Evangelical 

Lutheran  Church,  Rev.   H.   H.   Weber,  York,  Pa. 

Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  United  Synod  of  the  Evangelical 
Lutheran  Church  in  the  South,  Rev.  C.  L.  Brown,  Columbia,  S.  C. 

FRIENDS — American  Friends  Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  Mr.  Ross  A.  Had- 

ley,   Richmond,   Ind. 

Evangelistic  and  Church  Extension  Board  of  the  Friends  Five  Years' 
Meeting,  Mr.  Harry  R.  Keates,  1314  Lyon  Street,  DCS  Moines,  Iowa. 

GERMAN  EVANGELICAL — Foreign  Mission  Board,  German  Evangelical  Synod 
of  North  America,  Rev.  E.  Schmidt,  1377  Main  Street.  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

METHODIST  EPISCOPAL — For  Mission  Study,  Miss  Inez  Traxler,  Department 
of  Mission  Study  and  Christian  Stewardship  of  the  Epworth  League,  74<-» 
Rush  Street,  Chicago,  Illinois.  For  Missionary  Education  in  the  Sun- 
day School,  Rev.  Gilbert  Loveland,  Department  of  Missionary  Educa- 
tion of  the  Board  of  Sunday  Schools,  58  East  Washington  Street,  Chi- 
cago, Illinois. 

METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  (SOUTH) — The  Educational  Department  of  the 
Beard  of  Missions  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  Rev. 
C  G.  Hounshell.  810  Broadway,  Nashville,  Tenn.  (Correspondence 
concerning  both  foreign  and  home  missions.) 

METHODIST  PROTESTANT — Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Methodist 
Protestant  Church,  Rev.  Fred  C.  Klein,  316  North  Charles  Street, 
Baltimore,  Md. 

Board  of  Home  Missions  of  the  Methodist  Protestant  Church,  Rev. 
Charles  H.  Beck,  507  Pittsburgh  Life  Building,  Pittsburgh,  Pa. 

MORAVIAN — The  Department  of  Missionary  Education  of  the  Moravian 
Church  in  America,  Northern  Province,  Rev.  F.  W.  Stengel,  Lititz, 

PRESBYTERIAN    (U.   S.   A.)— The  Board   of  Foreign   Missions  of  the  Pros- 

byterian  Church  in  the  U.   S.  A.,  Mr.   B.   Carter  Millikin,  Educational 
Secretary,    156  Fifth  Avenue,  New   York  City. 
Board  of  Home   Missions   of  the   Presbyterian  Church  in  the  U.   S.   A., 

Mr.  Ralph  A.  Felton,  Director  of  Educational  Work,  156  Fifth  Avenue, 

New    York   Citv 
PRESBYTERIAN    (U.   S.) — Executive  Committee  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the 

Presbyterian  Church  in  the  U.  S.,  Mr.  John  I.  Armstrong,  210  Union 

Street,  Nashville,  Tenn. 
General   Assembly's   Home   Missions   of  the   Presbyterian   Church    in   the 

U.   S.,   Rev.    S.   L.    Morris,    1522   Hurt   Building,   Atlanta,   Ga. 
PROTESTANT  EPISCOPAL — The   Domestic  and   Foreign.  Missionary   Society   pt 

the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the  U.   S.  A.,   Mr.  W.  C.   Sturgis, 

281    Fourth  Avenue,    New   York   City. 
REFORMED  CHURCH   IN   AMERICA — Board   of  Foreign  Missions,   Rev.  L.   J. 

Shafer;    Board   of   Home   Missions,   Rev.    W.   T.   Demarest;    Board   of 

Publication    and    Bible    School    Work,    Rev.    T.    F.    Bayles.     25    East 

Twenty-second  Street,  New  York  City. 
REFORMED    CHURCH    IN    THE   UNITED    STATES — Mission    Study    Department. 

Representing  the  Boards  of  Home  and  Foreign  Missions,  Mr.  John  H. 

Poorman,  304  Reformed  Church  Building,  Fifteenth  and  Race  Streets, 

Philadelphia,  Pa. 
UNITED   BRETHREN    IN    CHRIST — Foreign    Missionary    Society,    Rev.    S.    S. 

Hough,   Otterbein   Press   Building,   Dayton,  Ohio. 
Home    Missionary    Society,    Miss    Lyda    B.    Wiggiro,    United    Brethren 

Building,  Dayton,  Ohio. 
Young   People's   Work,   Rev.   O.   T.    Deever,    Otterbein    Press   Building, 

Dayton,   Ohio. 


TED  EVANGELICAL — Home  and  Foreign  Missionary  Society  of  the  United 
Evangelical  Church  and  Board  of  Church  Extension,  Rev.  B.  H.  Niebei, 
Penbrook,  Pa. 

TED  NORWEGIAN  LUTHERAN — Board  of  Foreign  Missions  United  Nor. 
wegian  Lutheran  Church  of  America,  Rev.  M.  Saterlie,  425-429  South 
Fourth  Street,  Minneapolis,  Minn. 

Board  of  Home  Missions,  United  Norwegian  Lutheran  Church  of  Amer- 
ica, Rev.   Olaf  Guldseth,  425   South  Fourth   Street,  Minneapolis,  Minn, 
UNITED    PRESBYTERIAN — Mission    Study   Department   of   the    Board    of    For 
eign   Missions   of   the    United    Presbyterian    Church    of   North    America 
Miss  Anna  A.    Milligan,   200  North    Fifteenth   Street,    Philadelphia,   Pa, 

Board   of   Home   Missions   of   the   United    Presbyterian    Church    of   North 

America,    Kev.    K.    A.    Hutchison,    209    Ninth    Street,    Pittsburgh,    Pa. 
UNIVEBSALIST — Department   of    Missionary    Education    of    the    General    Sun- 
day  School   Association,    Rev.   A.   Gertrude    Earle,    Methuen,    Mass. 

Send    all    orders    for    literature    to    Universaiist    Publishing    House,    359 
Boylston  Street,  Boston,  Mass. 

CANADIAN   BOARDS 

BAFTIST — The  Canadian  Baptist  Foreign  Mission  Board,  Rev.  J.  G.  Brown, 
223  Church  Street,  Toronto,  Ontario. 

CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND — The  Missionary  Society  of  the  Church  of  England 
in  Canada,  Rev.  Canon  S.  Gould,  131  Confederation  Life  Building, 
Toronto,  Ontario. 

(  ONGRncATiONAL — Canada  Congregational  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  Mia» 
F./T-c  Jamieson,  23  Woodlawn  Avenue,  East,  Toronto,  Ontario. 

&CETKODIST — Young  People's  Forward  Movement  Department  of  the  Mis- 
sionary Sweety  of  the  Methodist  Church,  Canada,  Rev.  F.  C.  Stephen- 
s>on,  209  G,ueen  Street,  West,  Toronto,  Ontario. 

PRESBYTERIAN — Presbyterian  Church  in  Canada,  Board  of  Foreign  Mis- 
sions, Rev.  A.  E.  Armstrong,  439  Confederation  Life  Building,  To- 
ronto, Ontario. 

REVISED  TO   1917 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 


AN  INITIAL  FINE  OF  25  CENTS 

WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
THIS  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  SO  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY  AND  TO  $1.OO  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DAY 
OVERDUE. 


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